Battle for UP: Where is the defence corridor, asks Akhilesh

Lucknow, Feb 15 (IANS) The Samajwadi Party president, Akhilesh Yadav, has now attacked the ruling BJP for promising a defence corridor where missiles will be made, but the project was yet to see the light of the day.

"The government has announced that a defence corridor will come up which will change the face and destiny of Bundelkhand. They said missiles will be made here. Has anyone seen that defence corridor anywhere," he said while addressing a series of meetings in the Bundelkhand region on Monday night.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, in each of his speeches, recalled how the ruling BJP has taken the people of Bundelkhand for a ride by their announcements regarding the development of the region.

"They said the defence corridor is taking shape. They held a summit in Lucknow and claimed to have attracted investment worth Rs 5 lakh crore by different companies leading to jobs and employment opportunities to the unemployed and poor. Where is that Rs 5 lakh crore?" he questioned.

Referring to the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's promise of connecting Jhansi and adjoining areas with the expressway, he asked "What happened to the announcement that was made?"

The SP president said as per his party estimates, around 11 lakh vacancies are present in the government sector in the state as on date but the ruling BJP did not fill up these vacancies.

"We assure you that once the SP alliance government is formed, we will fill up these government posts in a time bound manner," he announced as the crowd cheered.

Akhilesh attacked the government over hoardings put up in Delhi and Mumbai announcing that the UP government has given jobs to lakhs of unemployed. "Such hoarding can only be seen in Delhi and Mumbai. The government does not put up such hoardings in Jhansi because people know the truth," he said.

Underlining the importance of the farm sector in India, Akhilesh said that it was the farmers who kept the economy up during the pandemic when the big corporate houses had shut down.

"The Indian farmer did not stay home but continued to work in the fields when the whole world had locked itself inside their house. That is what kept the Indian economy going," he said, adding that despite the farmers playing such a crucial role in such a huge crisis, the government targeted the community by not recalling farm laws and refusing to solve their problems.