Allahabad: Continuing his war of words with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Samajwadi Party President and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today said 'Narendra Modi seems to be relying more on the social media, as he includes even the jokes shared on social media in his election speeches". Mr Yadav contradicted the charges of discrimination and the minority appeasement, levelled against him by Mr Modi, while addressing an election rally in Fatehpur on February 19. 'Pradhan mantri kamal ke aadmi hai, kehte hain ke mera chehra latkaa hua hai (The Prime Minister is a peculiar person, who says I look demoralised),' said Mr Yadav.
Denying the charge that the Congress-Samajwadi Party coalition was demoralised after three phases of the Assembly elections, the Chief Minister said 'I have no idea where the Prime Minister saw me demoralised, did he see me in Saifai? Prime Minister is fond of watching TV or Whatsapp. He even includes the jokes in his election speeches shared on the social media.' Mr Yadav also contradicted the charges of discrimination in power supply and minority appeasement against his government. 'Let the Prime Minister swear by mother Ganga and the people about the hours of electricity supply in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi. Since the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, Varanasi has been getting 24-hour electricity supply and there has never been any discrimination with any city, any person on any ground,' he asserted, while addressing election meetings here.
'We believe in the Ganga. We believe in truth. When I say something by lifting my hand towards the Ganga, I say the truth. People around him misinform him, and he speaks lies. We do not discriminate by religion. We have worked for 'kabristaan' and 'shamshaan' or power supply on Diwali and Ramzan, Christmas, Independence Day, Republic day without discrimination. We made power supply a 24-hour affair,' he added. Mr Modi had, on Sunday, attacked the Chief Minister, accusing his government of indulging in discrimination on the grounds of caste and religion.
The Prime Minister had said that in UP, everyone feels that they are being discriminated and being denied their rights. He had also commented over graveyard and crematorium. The SP President claimed that the SP-Congress coalition has performed extremely well in the three phases of the state Assembly elections, held so far. 'If we continue to get the people's support like this, then I am confident that the coalition will win more than 300 seats in the election and form the next government,' he added. (UNI)