Home Minister Amit Shah (Photo: BJP/Twitter) 
Muzaffarnagar: Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday took potshots at the Samajwadi Party and its allies during an address in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. Reminiscing about the time that he had been in charge of the state, Shah said that there had been riots where the “accused had become victims and those who were victims were made accused”.
“Under the rule of SP, BSP, Uttar Pradesh was taken over by the mafia. Those who did politics based on religion and caste dominated here. After the formation of Yogi Adityanath ji’s government here in 2017, all the goons went out of the border,” the BJP’s official handle quoted him as saying.”Your one vote can also bring mafia raj in Uttar Pradesh and the same vote can also bring freedom from mafia raj. If the SP-BSP government is formed, then again mafia raj will come, casteism will come. But if you vote for BJP, then Uttar Pradesh will become the number one state of the country,” he added.
While the SP is fighting the upcoming polls in alliance with Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal, Shah alleged that the two were only “together till counting” of votes. “If their government is formed, then Jayant ji will leave and Azam Khan will come back. The people of UP have understood from the distribution of tickets that what is going to happen next,” he alleged.
The jailed SP leader had recently moved the Supreme Court seeking interim bail to campaign for the polls. While the Lok Sabha MP has remained lodged in Sitapur jail since February 2020 last year, the SP chose to field him from Rampur. The Samajwadi Party is also fielding his son (who was recently released on bail) from the Suar Assembly seat.
Earlier this month, Yadav had reportedly turned down Khan’s request to accomodate 12 of his aides in the list of candidates. Reports suggest that his son had met the SP chief and handed over the list of names. Yadav however is believed to have expressed his inability to accommodate all 12 minority community leaders in UP elections.