UP: BJP's Amit Malviya responds to '80 vs 20' row with video of Samajwadi MLA Nahid Hasan

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has slammed the Samajwadi Party after a video of Nahid Hasan, SP's sitting MLA from Kairana, went viral on the social media platforms wherein he urges people to boycott pro-BJP shopkeepers and buy goods of their daily needs from neighbouring Panipat in Haryana to make them 'fall in line'.

BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya shared the video of Hasan to target Akhilesh Yadav. "This is 80 vs 20!" he tweeted while referring to the Opposition parties criticising CM Yogi Adityanath over his comment that it will be an "80 per cent versus 20 per cent" election in Uttar Pradesh. Opposition leaders have alleged that it was an attempt at polarisation by the "80-20" reference, which according to them is aimed at pointing to the ratio of Hindus to Muslims in the poll-bound state.

Hasan in the video can be seen telling a group of people to stop purchasing goods, items and material from pro-BJP shopkeepers. "For next 10 days or for even a month, you go to the neighbouring Panipat (in Haryana) and face some hardships. Their business runs only when we buy things from them. This will make pro-BJP shopkeepers to mend their ways and fall in line (tabiyat mein sudhaar aa jaayegaa)," the Kairana MLA is heard telling the people.

The Samajwadi Party and RLD on Thursday released the list of 29 candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls. The list has 9 Muslim candidates including Shahid Manzoor, sitting MLAs Rafiq Ansari and Nahid Hasan as SP nominees from Kithore, Meerut Sadar and  Kairana, respectively.

Hasan is a sitting SP MLA from Kairana and had won the 2017 polls, defeating BJP's Mriganka Singh. In October 2014, he was elected from the seat after the sitting MLA Hukum Singh got elected to the Lok Sabha.

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