Prayagraj (UP), Oct 15: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday accused the Samajwadi Party of corruption in government recruitment and claimed that nobody was safe “before 2017”.
Addressing a meeting in support of BJP-NDA candidate Ashok Rathore for the Allahabad-Jhansi graduate constituency of the Legislative Council, Adityanath appealed to voters to support him in the October 23 election. Registered graduate voters in the constituency elect a member to the state’s Upper House.
“Before 2017, nobody was safe,” he said, alleging that the mafia threatened traders, women and ordinary citizens and challenged the administration and judiciary.
Targeting the SP government, Adityanath alleged that after recruitment advertisements were issued, people tried to extort money from candidates.
“As soon as an advertisement was issued, the uncle-nephew duo would set out to collect money,” he said, seemingly referring to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and his family.
He alleged that some candidates received appointment letters without appearing for examinations, while genuine aspirants were left disappointed and courts had to intervene.
The chief minister claimed that the BJP government provided more than four times as many government jobs in its two terms since 2017 as the SP did during its four terms in power. “We have issued appointment letters to more than 9.5 lakh youths so far,” he said. Adityanath announced that the government aimed to provide jobs to more than one lakh youths over the next six months.
He claimed that Uttar Pradesh’s startup count had risen from around 120 before 2017 to more than 24,000. “Young people are no longer just job seekers. They have also become job providers,” he said. Adityanath said the government was offering interest-free, collateral-free loans under the CM Yuva scheme to encourage entrepreneurship.
He also highlighted benefits for teachers, claiming that education-sector teachers received social security cover ranging from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore and cashless medical treatment up to Rs 5 lakh. He said the honorarium for shiksha mitras had increased from Rs 3,000 to Rs 18,000. Describing Prayagraj as a centre of faith, education, and justice, he said the city has seen infrastructure development and action against the mafia under the BJP government. He also cited the Maha Kumbh as an example of the state’s development.
“Samajwadi Party (SP) considers its family to be the state, while for us, the state is our family. The 25 crore people of Uttar Pradesh are our family,” he said.
Adityanath urged graduates and other educated voters to elect Rathore, saying those who had “played with the aspirations of the youth” should be given a reply through the ballot.
Although the SP was formally founded on October 4, 1992, Mulayam Singh Yadav first served as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister from 1989 to 1991 as a member of the Janata Dal. He later served as Chief Minister for two more terms under the banner of his own newly formed party: from 1993 to 1995 (in coalition with the BSP) and from 2003 to 2007. The party subsequently returned to power under his son, Akhilesh Yadav, who served as chief minister from 2012 to 2017, completing a full five-year term.
