They don't want to visit Ayodhya fearing loss of vote bank, Yogi Adityanath attacks Akhilesh Yadav
Lucknow (PTI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday hit out at Leader of Opposition Akhilesh Yadav for declining the invitation of the Speaker to visit Ayodhya "due to the fear of losing vote bank".
"They do not want to visit Ayodhya fearing that it will hurt their vote bank," said Adityanath.
The Samajwadi Party has declined the invitation of Speaker Satish Mahana to all members of the House for visiting Ram temple in Ayodhya together on February 11.
Earlier in his address, the chief minister said Yadav has problems with the fact that India has become the fifth largest economy in the world.
"He (Yadav) also has a problem that Uttar Pradesh becomes number one," he said.
When Yadav interjected, Adityanath said, without taking any names, "You have already denied the offer of the Speaker. You do not want to go to Ayodhya and you often go to Britain and you know who books your tickets."
Hitting at the Samajwadi Party, he said, "You could not do anything even in Mathura and Vrindavan. The Samajwadi Party government put up locks in Kashi and you locked a park behind the 'janamsthan' in Mathura. Our government opened both the locks," he said.
Prayers at a cellar in the Gyanvapi mosque were stopped during the Mulayam Singh government in 1993. The locks of the cellar were opened recently and prayers were allowed on the directions of a local Varanasi court.
The chief minister also accused Yadav of impoverishing the state in his tenure.
"In the five years of your tenure you gave a failure state but we made a secure state. You looted millions and we will give the state one trillion," he said, addressing Yadav in the UP Legislative Assembly.
His statement was followed by a round of applause from the treasury benches. Yadav was also present when Adityanath was speaking in the House.
Adityanath welcomed the bestowing of Bharat Ratna to Chaudhary Charan Singh, saying, "The development work done by Chaudhary Charan Singh as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and as prime minister in the country is memorable. His honour is the honour of the farmers of the country."
Charan Singh brought in revenue changes and it is because of his work that farmers are central to the policies of the government today, he said.
Adityanath took a jibe at the fissures between alliance partners SP and RLD, whose president Jayant Singh, the grandson of Charan Singh, has apparently been warming up to the BJP since the announcement of the award.
He said, "I hoped that when the leader of the opposition was speaking he would remember Chaudhary Charan Singh. But the crack could not be fixed."
The chief minister said, "When we presented our first budget in 2017, we dedicated it to Lord Ram. It is a matter of luck that when my government has presented its eighth budget, a grand Ram temple has been constructed. This budget is also dedicated to Lord Ram."
We have tried to realise the dream of Ram Rajya in this budget."
"It may be possible that the leader of the opposition has a problem with the size of the budget. In comparison to 2012-2013, the budget is thrice the size and is double in comparison to the budget presented in 2016-17," said the chief minister.
He said his government has doubled the GDP of the state in the last seven years. Earlier UP contributed only eight per cent but now it contributes 9.2 per cent to the country's economy and aims to increase this in the next five years.
"UP is no longer a Bimaru state. We are a revenue surplus state. This has been done without imposing any new tax. The rates of diesel and petrol are the lowest in UP. And this is a reflection of Ram Rajya," Adityanath said.
He recited a couplet from the Ramcharitmanas to highlight the kind of taxation in Ram Rajya and likened it to the policy followed by his government.
"We managed to increase the revenue by reducing tax theft and plugging leakages of revenue without imposing any new tax," said the chief minister.
"UP is second in numbers of filers of Income-tax return which reflects that per capita income in the state has improved," he said.
The unemployment rate in the state has gone down from 19 per cent from before 2017 and 2.4 per cent as of now. It is a result of improved investment opportunities in UP, Adityanath said.
"UP had the potential to become number one (state). The youth had talent before (too) but there was no vision and effort on the part of the then leadership. Their priority was not the youth, women or the poor but their own," said Adityanath, hitting at the previous government of Samajwadi Party.
In order to hit at the previous government, Adityanath cited a couplet of Tuslidas to assert his point that one who does not make an effort does not achieve anything.
"We are headed towards one district one medical college. We have controlled encephalitis," he added.
"We went to Ayodhya before the Supreme Court verdict (of 2019). We went there today and will continue to go there," said the chif minister while listing development projects for religious places including Varanasi, Mathura, Prayagraj and others in the budget.
"I have stayed overnight in Bijnor. Akhilesh Yadav, I am sure, had never stayed there fearing that chacha will take his chair," Adityanath quipped.
"I only want to tell the leader of the opposition that in the last seven years, due to the efforts made by the double engine government, six crore people have out of poverty in the state," said Adityanath.
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T'gana RTC strike: Talks between govt, employees successful
Hyderabad (PTI): Talks between employees of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (RTC) who were on strike and the state government concluded successfully on Friday as the government agreed to the key demands of the workmen.
Following a day-long marathon of talks between the leaders of the employees' Joint Action Committee (JAC) and the cabinet sub-committee, the government announced after midnight that it acceded to the demands, including a merger of RTC with the government, 11 per cent pay revision and elections to the employees' unions.
A committee comprising officials and employee leaders would be appointed over the merger of RTC with the government, it said.
The RTC management has also agreed to address the remaining issues as well, an official release said.
The employees would call off their strike and the RTC buses would hit the roads shortly, it said.
The employees had been on an indefinite strike since April 22 over a series of demands, including the merger of RTC with the government.
Earlier in the day, a driver of the RTC, who attempted suicide on April 23 during the strike, died at a hospital here in the early hours of Friday.
Shankar Goud, a 55-year-old driver, set himself ablaze by pouring petrol at Narsampet in Warangal district when the employees were staging a protest on Thursday in support of their demands.
Goud suffered serious burns, was initially admitted to a state-run hospital in Warangal, and later shifted to a super-speciality hospital in Hyderabad for advanced treatment.
"He succumbed (to injuries) at about 1.30 am on Friday," a senior official said.
The driver’s body was taken to his relative’s village, Muttojipet in Warangal district, for funeral rites.
Tension prevailed in Muttojipet as his family members and RTC employees attempted to take the body to the Narsampet bus station, where he worked, to enable his colleagues to pay their last respects. However, police did not permit this, citing law-and-order concerns.
This led to a deadlock before the funeral could proceed.
Union Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar criticised the Telangana government for not allowing the body to be taken to the Narsampet bus station.
Kumar, Minister of State (Home), visited Muttojipet village in Warangal district, where the funeral was held, and paid homage to Goud.
“They (family members) want to take the body to the bus depot for five minutes. Is the RTC bus depot in Pakistan or Bangladesh? They are emotionally attached to taking the body there. The government is hurting sentiments and creating fear among RTC employees,” Kumar told reporters.
He also expressed anger at the police for not allowing the body to be taken to the bus station and staged a protest, according to a release from his office.
RTC employees and BJP workers attempted to take the mortal remains in an ambulance to Narsampet, but were stopped by the police.
Later, after discussions with the police, the family members and RTC employees agreed to conduct the funeral in the village.
Sanjay Kumar, stating he would abide by the family’s decision, left the village after the funeral was conducted there.
Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said an ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh, a house, and a government job would be provided to the kin of Goud.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy expressed shock over the employee’s death and conveyed deep condolences to the grieving family, according to the release.
The RTC employees’ JAC had earlier announced an agitation programme from April 24 to 29, including silent marches and submission of memorandums to MLAs and other leaders.
