Mahagathbandhan in UP will have no impact, said the BJP
Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his claims of achievements in the last five years, saying that had he (PM Modi) gone to Sri Lanka "he would have said that he has killed the demon Ravana." Addressing a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat on Wednesday, the RLD chief said, "It is as if only PM Modi who has done any work."
"This man is so smart and cunning that if he had gone to Sri Lanka he would have told us that he is the one who killed Ravana because you see nobody has done anything apart from him," the RLD chief said, referring to the Prime Minister.
"This man (PM Modi) wears caps, which are not the ones you wear. He gets caps from I don't know where and then has the audacity to say 'I am a beggar'. If he is a beggar then I pray to God that I be made a beggar too...", Ajit Singh said.
In a controversial remark, the RLD chief said, "If we need a chowkidar we will get it from Nepal. We need a Prime Minister."
Ajit Singh, who has tied up with Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav as part of the mahagathbandhan, to take on the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, claimed that people are already raising slogans like ''hai, hai Modi, bye, bye Modi'' because of the government's "anti-farmer" policies.
"It is as if only PM Modi who has done any work": RLD Chief Ajit Singh
Campaigning in the sugar belt, where cane farmers are yet to receive last year's dues from mill owners, Ajit Singh said that the PM had "promised to make farmers prosperous but they have not yet been paid sugarcane dues and no action has been taken against sugar mill owners."
In a bid to regain the lost ground in the sugarcane belt, Ajit Singh's key poll pitch has been farmers' woes in the state. On Wednesday, he took on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and reminded him of promises made to farmers last year.
"Farmers would be paid their sugarcane dues till March 31, 2018 in 14 days or else the mill owners would be put behind bars, the Chief Minister had said...but neither payments were made nor the mill owners jailed," Ajit Singh said.
Not only Ajit Singh, BSP chief Mayawati also hit out at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over rising cane arrears of farmers. "How can the UP sugarcane farmers be happy and prosperous when their arrears amount to Rs. 10,000 crore? It is a matter to ponder on. Anti-farmer and pro-capitalist BJP government need not make wrong claims," Mayawati said in a tweet.
On Sunday, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is in-charge of the party's campaign in eastern UP, attacked Yogi Adityanath over unpaid dues of sugarcane farmers. She alleged that chowkidars are "only working for the rich and are not bothered about the poor."
Baghpat goes to polls in the first phase on April 11 along with 91 Lok Sabha seats across 20 states.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI)