UP Nikay Chunav 2023: CM Yogi Adityanath Campaigns In Mukhtar Ansari's Home Turf Mau

MAU/AZAMGARH: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took his campaign for the urban local body polls to gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari's home district Mau on Wednesday, saying that those who crippled law and order in the area were themselves moving in wheelchairs now. Ansari, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in a 2007 Gangster Act case by a court last week, was seen being moved in a wheelchair once before being brought to a jail in Uttar Pradesh from Punjab.

"This is the same district where Ramlila could not be organised, the district where the SP and BSP allowed these professional criminals and mafia to create chaos in their regimes. Since the double-engine government assumed power in Uttar Pradesh, these professional criminals can now be seen on wheelchairs," Adityanath said.

Later speaking in Azamgarh, he said the district was once known for its saints, revolutionaries and intellectual and artistic richness. "There was a lot of expectation from the district after independence. However, the district moved in the opposite direction because of neglect. Until 2017, Azamgarh was struggling for its identity. Its people did not even get rooms in hotels and dharamshalas in other cities," the chief minister said.

But "some people" gave country-made pistols to the youth, instead of pens, he said. "Times have changed. We are helping the youth move away from sword to pen. We are making them skilled by connecting them with technology," he said. Adityanath also took a jibe at Akhilesh Yadav, saying five years ago the Samajwadi Party chief had come to Azamgarh for campaigning, but today if he comes by road, he won't be able to recognise the district.

Referring to a significant drop in the maximum temperature in most parts of north India, including Uttar Pradesh, due a change in the weather system, Adityanath said it showed "even the nature is with us". The chief minister is leading the BJP campaign for the ULB polls, addressing multiple election meetings in parts of the state daily. On Tuesday, he addressed an election meeting in Prayagraj, the home turf of slain gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad.

On Wednesday, he launched the party's campaign for the second phase from Maghar, a town in Sant Kabir Nagar district in eastern Uttar Pradesh, saying it was once considered a "gateway to hell" but the BJP government has worked to develop it into "paradise". He also addressed a meeting in Ballia. "Death in Maghar used to mean going to 'nark' (hell), but saint Kabir changed that notion and it became paradise in the double-engine government. The double-engine government has set up Saint Kabir Academy to promote research on his values and ideals, including social equality and harmony," he said.

"People will feel that the chief minister himself is coming to campaign in the municipal elections. Yes, I am coming because the money will be sent from Delhi and Lucknow and we want the money to be put to the best use in the interest of the public," Adityanath said in Maghar. "There was money even before 2017, but the poor did not get houses. Money was wasted. It went to the pockets of a few for 70 years. Otherwise, every poor person would have had a toilet and a house by now. There would have been proper arrangements for drainage in urban areas," he alleged.

Speaking about infrastructure development, Adityanath said the link expressway of the Purvanchal Expressway goes to Gorakhpur via Sant Kabir Nagar. "We did not discriminate when it came to development. We did not look at one's caste or religion to provide them benefits of government schemes," he said, according to an official statement. The first phase of the polls will be held on May 4 and the second phase on May 11. The counting of votes will be done on May 13.