Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said that the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is one short of hitting a “century” of tickets given to candidates with a criminal history. Yadav's staement comes ahead of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
In a tweet, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister claimed that the BJP has, so far, fielded 99 candidates with a criminal history for the upcoming assembly polls.
“Breaking news about baba ji (Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath) BJP is just one candidate short of hitting a century of criminal candidates… So far, 99 candidates with criminal history have been given tickets,” he tweeted in Hindi.
The BJP has, so far, declared 294 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections.
Adityanath had on Saturday alleged that Yadav was patronising criminals, goons and mafia and termed the SP as 'dangawadi' (promoting riots), ‘tamanchawadi’ (fond of country-made pistols) and ‘pariwarwadi’ (working for family).
He further said, "The rule of law will remain in UP even after March 10. Do not worry! The candidate of the Tamanchawadi Party from Kairana is threatening people. It means the heat has not calmed down yet. After March 10, the heat will cool down. Are the perpetrators of Muzaffarnagar riots and those who opened fire on Ram Bhakts ruthlessly entitled to seek votes from people?"
Elections for the 403 Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting February 10.
