Akhilesh: If elected to power, INDIA bloc will withdraw Agniveer plan

Lucknow: In the first joint show of the INDIA bloc, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh addressed a rally in west UP’s Nagina on Wednesday. The alliance is finally coming together in UP where, so far, parties are campaigning for themselves. Next in line is a joint rally by Yadav and Rahul Gandhi for a Congress candidate in Amroha.
Nagina, which is going to the polls on April 19 in the first phase, is a reserved seat where the contest has been complicated by the entry of Chandrashekar Azad, a Dalit leader and convenor of the Azad Samaj Party.
Yadav and Singh hit out at BJP-led central govt for its schemes, targeting PM Narendra Modi for ‘Modi ki Guarantee’. Speaking first to the chants of Jai Siya Ram, Yadav promised if the INDIA bloc won these elections, it would withdraw the Agniveer scheme. “They introduced a scheme like Agniveer where if a person is martyred, he will get no benefits.The INDIA bloc will end this scheme if it comes to power,” he said. He criticised govt for paper leaks which have taken place in UP over past few months.
Cornering the government on the Electoral Bond scheme, Yadav said that BJP had looted the country in the name of bonds, filled up its coffers and led to inflation in the country.
Singh, who was arrested by the enforcement directorate for his role in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam and was released on bail recently, took on the BJP for inducting opposition leaders who were accused of corruption. “BJP is only breaking elected govts. In Jharkhand, they jailed an adivasi leader. In Delhi, its three-time CM is in jail. If a person is winning elections, does he need to have Opposition leaders arrested?,” Singh questioned, highlighting names of Opposition leaders who were charged with corruption and have now joined BJP.
Taking on BJP for its slogan of ‘Jo Ram ko laya hum usko layenge (we will vote for those who brought back Ram)’, Singh called it BJP’s arrogance to presume that they had brought back Lord Ram
. “Hindus are in majority in the country and they will suffer the most if there is unemployment and inflation. In one election speech, Modi said if there are kabristans (graveyards), then there should be shamshan ghats (cremation grounds) as well. We want schools, jobs, water and power,” he said.
He said that this would be the last election if BJP came to power as many of its members were seeking 400 seats ‘to change the Constitution’.