Mainpuri bypoll: Adityanath takes a dig at Shivpal for changing sides, likens him to a 'football'

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday (November 28, 2022) took a dig at socialist leader Shivpal Singh Yadav for changing sides and likened him to a football and a pendulum. Adityanath, who was campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Mainpuri, the Samajwadi Party bastion where a parliamentary bypoll is scheduled to be held on December 5, also slammed Akhilesh Yadav and said that he didn't visit his constituency when he was needed there and did not spare his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav either.

"One day I was reading a statement by uncle Shivpal, his condition has become like that of a pendulum," the CM said at the rally to back BJP nominee Raghuraj Singh Shakya. 

Adityanath said a pendulum commands no respect and one should not become that in life.

He also referred to a time when Shivpal "didn't even get a chair" and had to rest on the arm of a chair.

"When one moves about like a football, one man kicks from this side and the other from that side. Some people have become a football; there is a need to save one self from becoming a football," the BJP leader said without taking names.

Apparently referring to Akhilesh Yadav, Adityanath asked people if their representative ever visited them during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"He will not come as he has no time to enquire about your condition. He will take care of your condition only if he has time from his circle of friends," he said. 

"Now he has come to emotionally lure Mainpuri once again," he added.

मैनपुरी की सम्मानित जनता इस बार हर बूथ पर कमल खिलाकर परिवर्तन के लिए तैयार है... https://t.co/gwEuI4IqJF — Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) November 28, 2022

At an election rally in Akhilesh Yadav's Karhal assembly segment, Adityanath paid tributes to his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose death necessitated a parliamentary bypoll in Mainpuri.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav has been fielded by the party. Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) president Shivpal Yadav, who had broken away from the SP headed by his nephew, is now campaigning for her.

The 'chacha-bhatija' (Shivpal and Akhilesh), who have not been on good terms after falling out with each other following a turf war in 2016, have come together once again to retain the seat terming the win as a tribute to Mulayam Singh Yadav.

In a strategic move, BJP fielded Shakya, considered to be Shivpal's loyalist, against Dimple hoping to exploit the rift in the family which appears to be failing as the Yadav family has joined ranks.

Shivpal's support is considered important as his Jaswantnagar assembly constituency falls in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat and he is a popular leader there. 

जिस बाग को सींचा हो खुद नेता जी ने...
उस बाग को अब हम सीचेंगे अपने खून पसीने से... pic.twitter.com/tkqXdYgqby — Shivpal Singh Yadav (@shivpalsinghyad) November 17, 2022

Earlier in the day, Yogi Adityanath referred to the "blessings" his own party received from the SP patriarch and said, "I pay humble tributes to netaji Mulayam Singh Yadav. I pay tribute to him because he had said in the Parliament in 2019 itself that BJP will come to power in whichever elections are held next."

"It was the result of netaji's blessings that the Bharatiya Janata Party candidates demolished SP's traditional strongholds like Azamgarh and Rampur in the Lok Sabha by-elections and reached the Lok Sabha with a huge majority," he said.

BJP had won the Azamgarh and Rampur seats vacated by Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan respectively after becoming MLAs.

"Once again the dream of the late 'netaji' is going to come true here. I have come here to appeal to you for the BJP," he added, predicting a BJP win in the SP heartland.

नेताजी का वह सपना साकार होने जा रहा है, जो उन्होंने कहा था कि जीतेगी तो भाजपा ही... pic.twitter.com/tRJjZMiUeK — Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) November 28, 2022

He repeated allegations of graft in government recruitment while the SP was in power, claiming that ?the uncle and the nephew? took a cut.

"The youth were exploited and Etawah and Mainpuri were defamed then because of this," he said.

Adityanath also accused the SP and the Yadav family of dynastic politics. 

"Some people do politics in the name of secularism, raise big slogans and call themselves socialists but their real character is only 'pariwarvad'," he said.

"They need everything for the family, be it the post of the national president, chief minister, national general secretary, MP, MLA, block head -- all from the family. They cannot move out of the circle of the family," he said.

He claimed that people connected with the SP raised their "own palaces" whenever the party came to power but the houses for the poor in Mainpuri and Etawah were not built.

भारतीय जनता पार्टी नेतृत्व ने श्री रघुराज सिंह शाक्य के कार्य को देखा और तय किया कि अब मैनपुरी किसी परिवार की विरासत नहीं बन सकती... pic.twitter.com/Sy6fPCpKpZ — Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) November 28, 2022

Unlike other parties, he said, the BJP is a family and he has come to include Mainpuri in the "BJP family".

Yogi Adityanath govt downgrades Shivpal Yadav's security cover from 'Z' to 'Y' category

Meanwhile, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government downgraded the security cover of Shivpal Singh Yadav from 'Z' to 'Y' category. Shivpal was given 'Z' security in 2018 by the Adityanath government.

"Following a review at the meeting of the state level security committee on November 25, it has been decided to provide 'Y' category security to Shivpal Singh Yadav in place of 'Z'," a letter written by the Superintendent of Police (training and security), Vaibhav Krishan, said.

The letter, dated November 27, has been sent to the Police Commissionerate Lucknow and Senior Superintendent of Police Etawah.

According to the police, 'Y' category security comprises of a total of 11 security personnel, including two PSOs (private security guards), while 'Z' category security comprises a total of 22 security personnel, including four to five NSG commandos.

(With agency inputs)