Mainpuri (UP), Nov 15 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Friday attacked Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, saying he talks about PDA but runs "Parivar (family) Development Agency".
Maurya addressed a public meeting in support of BJP candidate Anuj Yadav in the byelection for Karhal assembly constituency in Mainpuri district through mobile phone. A party worker said the deputy chief minister could not reach the venue as the helicopter in which he was supposed to travel could not fly in bad weather and, therefore, he addressed the public meeting through mobile.
In his election speech through mobile, Maurya said, "Akhilesh ji talks about PDA (Backward, Dalit, Minorities) but runs 'Parivar Development Agency'."
Yadav's PDA stands for Pichhde (backward), Dalit and Alpsankhyak (minorities).
The Deputy Chief Minister Maurya further said, "I call this agency a fake PDA, because the support they had obtained from the public in the Lok Sabha elections by cheating is not being received today."
Yadav won the election from Karhal assembly seat in the 2022 assembly elections but resigned after being elected as a Lok Sabha member from Azamgarh region in 2024, necessitating a byelection there.
The BJP has made Yadav's cousin brother-in-law Anuj Yadav the party's candidate here, while his nephew Tej Pratap Yadav is the SP candidate from here.
In his address, Maurya discussed the assembly elections in 2027 and said this election before 2027 is an election to strengthen the foundation.
Making an appeal to the voters, the deputy chief minister said, "Vote without fear and pressure and I assure you that if Anuj Yadav is sent to the assembly as an MLA, then the BJP government will make Karhal bloom like a lotus... Now I am sure that the voters who voted for SP earlier, will puncture the cycle and send it to the garage in Saifai."
He claimed that there is no need to give the cycle a chance anywhere, because the SP's cycle has been punctured and the party is going to become a "samaaptwadi party".