Akhilesh backs Rahul’s remarks on strikes, takes a dig at PM
11 Oct 2016 10:26 PM GMT
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday backed Rahul Gandhi’s controversial ‘dalali’ remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on surgical strikes saying the Congress leader must have said it after giving much thought.
He also took a dig at Modi for attending the Dussehra festivities here, saying “had there been elections in Bihar, he would have slayed Ravan there”.
“It’s not a question of Congress but I have good relations with Rahul Gandhi. If he has said something he must have given it much thought. He must have some information about it,” Akhilesh said when asked about Rahul’s “dalali” remarks on PM.
The Samajwadi Party leader said that he had visited the families of martyred soldiers and helped them. “Ultimately, the poor lost their lives, the farmers are dying, their sons are dying, so what do they know about surgical strike? “The question is if you and I have good ties but the relations on border are strained, the country and the world are unable to understand this,” he said.
Rahul’s remarks that the Modi government was “profiteering” (dalai) from the blood spilt by the soldiers had drawn criticism from BJP which accused him of insulting the armed forces. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and NCP too had disapproved of Rahul’s remarks. However, Rahul and his party maintained that they supported the military action but denounced “political propaganda” on the issue.
On Modi’s Luckow visit on Tuesday, Akhilesh said, “Had there been elections in Bihar, he would have slayed Ravan there. “There should be no politics over festival. He is coming to Lucknow, he will give something big to us. We have expectations from him for progress of the state,” he said.
On the merger of Mukhtar Ansari’s Quami Ekta Dal with SP, Akhilesh said, “You know well my views on this.”
The Chief Minister had in the past made clear his unhappiness over the decision.
He distributed cheques of Rs 15 lakh each to families of 18 persons, who went missing after Muzaffarnagar riots.
No rift in SP, we are all ‘sewak’ of Akhilesh: Amar Singh
Denying any rift in the Samajwadi Party (SP), senior leader Amar Singh on Monday said all in the party were ‘sewak’ of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
“There is no rift in the party. We are all sewak of Akhilesh as the work of an organisation is ‘seva’ (service). Our chief ministerial face (for the 2017 state Assembly polls) is Akhilesh,” he told reporters here.
The SP national general secretary reiterated that Mulayam Singh Yadav was the one who “made the party” and was its head.
“Whatever he (Mulayam) says, will be followed in the party,” he added. Singh claimed that Mayawati’s BSP had “thrice” joined hands with the BJP but the SP had never done it and will “never do so”.
He congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the army’s surgical strikes in PoK and said, “The Prime Minister has taken all the parties into confidence in this matter and has also instructed his partymen not to pat their backs over it.”
Singh described Modi’s visit to Pakistan as “part of diplomacy” and warned the Congress and the secularists about their “choice of words” on the issue as otherwise, it could “help the BJP”.
Earlier in the day, the SP leader, along with actress Jaya Prada, paid obeisance at the Vindhyavasini temple here on the last day of ‘navratra’.
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