LUCKNOW: BJP Lok Sabha MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi's son met Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday, a day before polling in Lucknow in the fourth of the seven phase Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
Yadav tweeted a photo of Mayank Joshi meeting him and described it as an "informal meeting".
Rita Bahuguna Joshi is the Lok Sabha MP from Prayagraj and was pitching for her son to be declared the BJP candidate from Lucknow Cantonment assembly seat.
However, the BJP gave the ticket to Uttar Pradesh Minister Brijesh Pathak.
In a tweet in Hindi, Yadav said, "An informal meeting with Mayank Joshi (Shri Mayank Joshi jee se shistaachaar mulaakaat)."
However, what was discussed in the meeting is not known.
Rita Bahuguna Joshi was elected as MLA from Lucknow Cantonment on a Congress ticket in 2012.
In the 2017, assembly elections, she contested on a BJP ticket, and defeated SP candidate Aparna Yadav, the younger daughter-in-law of SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Aparna Yadav recently joined the BJP.
Meanwhile, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday urged people to vote for those who "protect cows and not those who kill them", vowing that his government will neither allow cows to be slaughtered, nor farmers' crops to be damaged'.
Addressing an election rally in Ayodhya and later another one in Barabanki, the chief minister also promised a stipend of Rs 900 per month per cow to farmers on forming his government again.
Alleging that the Samajwadi Party used to supply even power to an area on the basis of the religion of people living there, he told an election rally in Barabanki that the BJP government work on the principle of inclusive growth.
"During the SP government, even the electricity had a 'majhab' (religion), but now the government is working with the mantra of 'sabka saath, sabka vikaas' (inclusive growth), and electricity is reaching to people without any discrimination."
Asserting that he will not allow cows' protection to be weakened, he said, "Our resolve was that we will neither allow cows to be slaughtered nor farmers' crops to be damaged."
Reiterating his charge of the Samajwadi Party government's bids to withdraw cases against terrorists, Adityanath said, "In 2012, when the SP came to power in the state, they withdrew cases against terrorists."
"But, in 2017, when the BJP formed the government, we waived off farmers' loans, closed illegal slaughterhouses and worked for the safety of women," he said.
In Ayodhya, he said the state was ruled by goons before 2017, but they were put behind bars after the BJP government assumed power.
Not a single riot took place during his government, Aditynath said, adding free ration was not available earlier but double doses of ration are available now.
Adityanath was addressing the rally in Ayodha in support of the BJP candidates of the Milkipur reserved assembly constituency and Bikapur seat.
Beginning his speech at R D Inter College, Bikapur, Adityanath took a veiled dig at SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, saying "Babua" has not been visiting the Ayodhya temple now.
"We will win all the five seats in Ayodhya, 325 seats in the state and form a strong government," he said.
Later, addressing the gathering at Inayatnagar in Milkipur, he said the whole world was looking towards Ayodhya and Ayodhya meant the Ram temple.
"By next year, this grand temple will be ready. If Ayodhya is to be established as a grand city, there should be a double engine government of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh," he said.
Accusing the earlier SP government of favouring a community, the chief minister said earlier electricity used to be supplied on Eid and Muharram but cut off on Holi and Diwali in the state.
A total of 61 assembly constituencies in 12 districts of Uttar Pradesh, including those in Ayodhya and Barabanki, go to the polls on February 27 during the fifth phase of the seven-phase elections.
BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda on Tuesday alleged that Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has taken an oath to protect terrorists and wondered whether such a person can be entrusted the reins of Uttar Pradesh.
He claimed that Yadav as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh had freed terrorists and withdrew cases against them.
Nadda also hit out at Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, saying even though her father, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, "died in a terrorist attack, terrorism is a 'fizul ka mudda' (a pointless matter) for her".
At a poll meeting in Deoria's Rudrapur, the BJP chief said, "Last Friday, 38 people were sentenced to death in the 2008 Ahmedabad bomb blasts case. Shadab Ahmed, the father of Mohammad Saif, a convict in the case, is a Samajwadi Party worker working closely with Akhilesh Yadav."
"Other people swear by God to protect the Constitution but Akhilesh (Yadav) says he swears by God that he will protect terrorists," the Bharatiya Janata Party president told the rally.
Maintaining that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ended 'mafia raj' and 'goonda raj' in the state, Nadda said all anti-nationals have been jailed.
"Five years ago, Azam Khan, Mukhtar Ansari and Atiq Ahmed used to spread terror. But for the last five years, all the three have been playing 'Gulli Danda' in jail," he said.
Nadda urged people to vote for the BJP saying under Yogi Adityanath's rule festivals like Holi and Diwali are celebrated in the state with greater fervour.
"Diwali used to be celebrated in Uttar Pradesh earlier also but why was there no Deepotsav in Ayodhya? Why was Mathura not decorated? Why Varanasi was not decorated on Dev Deepawali earlier? All this is now happening under the BJP's rule," he said.
Targeting Priyanka Gandhi, the BJP chief alleged that she had termed the issue of terrorism as a pointless matter.
"Her father Rajiv Gandhi died in a terrorist attack but terrorism is a 'fizual ka mudda' for her."
He claimed that neither the Samajwadi Party nor the Congress have the power to count their developmental works for the state in public.
"Only the BJP people can thump their chest and say we did what we said. The politics of the report card has been taught by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Nadda said.
Reiterating his allegations in Ballia's Phephana, he said, "Akhilesh Yadav says terrorists should be jailed. Blasts had occurred in court premises of Lucknow, Varanasi and Ayodhya (in 2007) in which 15 people died and the Indian Mujahideen had claimed responsibility."
"The Indian Mujahideen had also claimed responsibility for the blasts at Dashashwamedh Ghat in Varanasi, onboard the Shramjeevi Express and at other places. A terror attack took place at the CRPF camp in Rampur."
"As chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav freed the terrorists from jail. And withdrew cases registered against them. Can the reins of the state be given to Akhilesh Yadav who withdrew cases against terrorists? Will UP remain safe in their rule?" Nadda posed.
He alleged that the Samajwadi Party and hooligans are synonymous.
"Dividing the society, making brother fight his brother, fear, terror, land grabbing and extortion are the works of the Samajwadi Party."
Deoria will go to the polls on February 3 during the sixth of the seven-phase elections in Uttar Pradesh.
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday accused the Samajwadi Party of trying to get Muslim votes in the UP Assembly polls by making them scared of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
He said this addressing a public meeting here.
Owaisi said, "The Samajwadi Party is not suppressing the leadership of the minority community but eliminating it in a planned manner."
Owaisi accused Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav of favouring Yogi Adityanath when his party's government was in power.
Yadav did not sign the file to prosecute Yogi Adityanath, alleged Owaisi.
Owaisi said Yadav and Adityanath are two sides of the same coin.
Unless there is a leader of Muslims in a democracy, their issues are not going to be resolved, Owaisi said.
Union minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday claimed that the Samajwadi Party and the Congress governments in Uttar Pradesh deprived the poor of the rations meant for them.
Speaking in Maharajganj, Irani said that earlier, those who took the name of Lord Ram were ridiculed, but now, the BJP government has established 'Ram Rajya' in the state, where women are getting respect and the youth jobs.
"The BJP government has given free rations to the poor, while the earlier governments of the SP and the Congress used to eat up the rations meant for them," she said.
Later, addressing a gathering in the Domariyaganj constituency of Siddharthnagar district, Irani said "(Goddess) Lakshmi ji never rides a cycle or an elephant, she rides a lotus", and appealed to people to vote for the BJP by pressing the button of lotus (election symbol of the BJP) on the EVM.
She also took a jibe at the Samajwadi Party, saying those who had opened fire on 'karsevaks' (in Ayodhya) are now having dreams about Lord Krishna, but Lord Krishna does not support hooligans.
"The cycle people warned others not to take vaccines and named it Modi injection. The SP tried to keep the poor away from vaccines, but no one listened to them and rejected their propaganda," Irani said, apparently referring to the Samajwadi Party.
She also listed various welfare measures initiated by the BJP government.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday targeted previous SP and BSP governments in Uttar Pradesh, alleging that they had turned the state into a bastion of terror and centre of riots.
They had made the state a corridor of mafia but now a defence corridor is being built in the state, Shah said addressing an election event in Durga Puja Park of Pritam Nagar here.
Yogi Adityanath's government has eliminated the mafia in five years and if the Samajwadi-led government comes to power again, people like Azam Khan, Atiq Ahmed and Mukhtar Ansari will be out of jail, Shah alleged.
There was a time when countrymade firearms were being made in Uttar Pradesh, he said.
Previous SP-BSP governments had made the state a bastion of terror, centre of riots and a mafia corridor, he alleged.
"But today, missiles are being made in Uttar Pradesh. This change has been brought by the BJP government in five years," he said campaigning for Uttar Pradesh minister Siddharth Nath Singh.
Shah claimed that earlier UP villages and cities did not get 24-hour power supply.
But the Adityanath government supplied 24-hour electricity to people, he said, adding that the BJP government built five new expressways.
He said the state government built 40 new medical colleges and more than 57 engineering colleges.
The BJP government started the politics of development in the state and ended the politics of casteism, he stressed.