Voters Will Choose Between Pakodewala and Expressway by : INVC Team Published on : 16 Sep, 2018 12:57 AM IST

Voters will choose between pakodewala and expressway By : INVC Team Published On : 16 Sep, 2018 12:57 AM IST

INVC NEWS New Delhi ,

Becoming friends (read: forming an alliance with the Congress party) with Rahul Gandhi "was" a good idea, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said today at India Today's youth summit -- Mind Rocks 2018, Delhi. The comment by Yadav immediately prompted the question: Did he mean that he would not ally with Gandhi in the future?

"Forget it," Yadav in an attempt to evade the question. However, when pressed to answer, Yadav ﬁnally clariﬁed: "I am the kind of a guy who, once he makes friends, he doesn't break that friendship."

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister later went on to suggest once again that the friendship with Rahul Gandhi would last, by saying that his Samajwadi Party would will try and become part of any anti-BJP coalition that forms in Madhya Pradesh.

Madhya Pradesh will go to the polls later this year, and of late, there has been talk about the Congress and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party joining hands to ﬁght that election.

A large part of Akhilesh's Mind Rocks session was devoted to targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party for what he said was its taking credit for development work carried out by his government.

"Remember that Metro ride PM Modi took with the South Korean President?" Akhilesh asked, referring to the day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in travelled from Delhi to Noida on the Blue Line of the Delhi Metro earlier this year.

"Nobody talks about who made that Metro line," Akhilesh said. "Also, the Samsung plant [located in Noida; inaugurated by PM Modi]... my government's policy was behind that."

Akhilesh went on to express conﬁdence that the BJP would fail to win the same number of Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh as it did in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

The string of losses suffered by the party in the recent Lok Sabha bypolls in Uttar Pradesh are enough indication that the party will find it difficult to win in the state, Akhilesh said.

Towards the end of his session, Akhilesh was asked if he would attend an event to which the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is reportedly inviting Opposition party leaders. Akhilesh suggested he would not go because while he "doesn't know much about the RSS" he has read about "why Sardar Patel banned the RSS".

Akhilesh declines RSS invite, says voters will choose between pakodawala and expressway at India Today Mind Rocks Youth Summit 2018

"I don't know much about RSS but I read about the reasons why Sardar Patel banned the organization. After reading those, I don't think I should go there," said former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today at India Today Mind Rocks event held in Delhi. He was responding to a question on an invite to a RSS event. www.internationalnewsandviews.com India Today Mind Rocks is India’s biggest youth festival, where the country's youth get to interact with icons from diverse ﬁelds such as politics, business, science, sports and cinema. The speakers at this year's event included RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav, Congress leader Priyanka Chaturvedi, BJP leader Sambit Patra, AAP leader Raghav Chadda, actors Anushka Sharma, Varun Dhawan, Tiger Shroﬀ, Shahid Kapoor, Taapsee Pannu and Radhika Apte, business leaders Kris Gopalakrishnan and Ananth Narayanan, singers Raftaar and Parmish Verma and Asiad medalist Dutee Chand.

The former chief minister appealed to the young voters to vote for "cyclewala'. Cycle is the election symbol of Yadav's party SP. Taking a dig at Narendra Modi government at the Centre for rising fuel prices, Akhilesh said: "Cycle doesn't need diesel or petrol. Cycling will make you healthier. It also teaches you how to balance. SP can take along BSP and Congress."

He also slammed the prime minister for appropriating the developmental work done by SP government in the past. "The metro that Modi took along with South Korean president was built by SP government. The prime minister inaugurated just 9 km of expressway amid so much fanfare, while the SP government built expressway where planes can land," said Akhilesh. He also challenged the BJP government at the Centre and in states to show one road which is better than the ones built by SP government.

He ridiculed the Yogi Adityanath government of Uttar Pradesh saying that the chief minister was not doing any work but instead telling people that sugarcane causes diabetes.

The SP president also criticised the Modi government for "cheating" the people by making false promises on demonetisation."The government said demonetisation will end corruption and stop terror funding. Did it happen?"

On being told that law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh has improved under BJP rule, the former CM said that crime rates are the highest in UP and Delhi despite the fact that BJP looks after the law and order of both states.

Taking an apparent dig at Modi’s statement that selling pakoda is also a form of employment, Akhilesh said that people would soon decide if they want pakodawala government or expressway government.

He also lamented that his party was outsmarted by BJP in marketing their success and work. In an obvious reference to the prime minister keeping long hours at work for the progress of the country, Akhilesh said: "Even laborers do hard work, that doesn't mean they are progressing."

On being probed about his friendship with Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh said: "I'm not one to break friendship."

On being asked about the family dispute in his party, the former CM said, "Every family has dispute. If someone doesn't have a family, how will there be a dispute." The reference was to Modi whose family doesn't stay with him and has remained away from politics.

He also dismissed the allegations that SP plays caste politics saying it's BJP which indulge in caste politics in the name of social engineering. The SP president appealed to the young voters to vote for development and not for divisive forces.

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