THE BJP on Sunday targeted rival Samajwadi Party over the latter’s list of candidates, accusing the party of fielding professional criminals and“those responsible for the exodus of Hindu traders from Kairana” in west UP.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that while on one hand, the first list of BJP was a “symbol of social justice”, the Samajwadi Party’s list, on the other hand, is full of “professional history-sheeters, rioters from Muzaffarnagar and criminals who forced exodus of Hindu traders from Kairana”.
Without naming anyone, Adityanath said: “Samajwadi Party aur gathbandhan ki jo suchi aayi hai, ushko sabne dekha hai… Kairana mein Hindu vyapariyon ke palayan ke liye jimmedar logon ko ticket dena, Muzaffarnagar ke dangayion ko ticket dena, Bulandshahr aur Loni mein peshewar history-sheeter aur aparadhiyon ko ticket dena, ye SP aur gathbandhan ke charitra ko ujagar kar deta hai (The list of the Samajwadi Party and its alliance partner has been seen by all… It has given tickets to those who forced exodus of Hindu traders in Kairana, rioters of Muzaffarnagar, professional criminals in Bulandshahr and Loni. This reflects the true character of SP and its alliance),”he said.
“In peshewar mafio ko satta mein la karke shoshan ka pratik ban, yahi inka samajik naya hai aur yahi inke ticket mein bhi spashta jhalakta hai (Bringing professional criminals in the government and then becoming the symbol of exploitation is their ‘social justice’, which is refective in their ticket distribution as well),” Adityanath added.
He also accused the previous Samajwadi Party government led by Akhilesh Yadav of being “hand in gloves with mafia”. “The SP has once again made its intentions clear by distributing tickets to criminals and rioters… It shows their dual character and the politics of hate,” the chief minister said.
While Adityanath did not name any SP candidate, BJP leader and Union Minister Anurag Thakur took the name of SP candidate from Kairana Nahid Hasan. “If you see MLA Nahid Hasan, he is SP’s candidate number one. He is in jail,” said Thakur.
“If you see the list of SP candidates, it starts from the one in jail, and ends with the one on bail. The game of jail-bail is the real khel (game) of the Samajwadi Party,” Thakur said at an event where former Kanpur Police Commissioner Asim Arun joined the BJP.
Sources in the BJP said the CM was referring to Madan Bhaiya, who has been fielded by SP from Loni and has reportedly 31 cases registered against him, including murder cases.
The SP has fielded Haji Yunus from Bulandshahr.
Sitting Samajwadi Party MLA from Kairana, Nihad Hasan on Friday became the first candidate to file his nomination papers. The two-time SP MLA from Kairana constituency in Shamli district was on Saturday sent to 14-day judicial custody by a special court after being arrested in a case from February last year filed under the Gangsters Act, officials said.
Hasan and his mother, Tabassum Hasan, who is a former MP from Kairana, were named as accused in the case along with 38 others. Tabassum Hasan had got anticipatory bail in the case. Police said Nahid, who was “absconding”, had reached the Kairana court to surrender on Saturday afternoon, and the court sent him to 14 days in judicial custody.