LUCKNOW/VARANASI: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
attacked
Samajwadi Party
and its chief,
Akhilesh Yadav
, accusing him on Saturday of “bowing down” to the
mafia
and even giving them tickets to contest elections.
Addressing an
election rally
in Ghazipur, from where SP has fielded Afzal Ansari, the brother of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari who recently died in Banda jail, PM Modi said, “During their rule, the mafia operated with impunity, brazenly challenging the law from open jeeps and killing rivals, while two to three riots took place each month.”
BJP has fielded Parasnath Rai against Ansari, while BSP has fielded Umesh Kumar Singh.
He praised UP CM Yogi Adityanath, stating that under his government riots and rioters have been effectively curbed.
Describing himself as a watchman of the rights of the deprived, Dalits, and backward communities, he asserted that under his tenure reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs would remain intact.