UP Assembly election: Akhilesh Yadav showers sops

Lucknow: Pressure cookers for women, 50 per cent concession in bus fares for women, smart phones and laptops for the youth, 1kg ghee and milk powder for children in primary schools and monthly pension for over 1 crore poor — SP national chief and UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, on Sunday, adopted the Jayalalitha pattern of politics and liberally announced sops for all sections of society in the party election manifesto.

Mr Yadav said the Samajwadis are way ahead of the competition, and “if there is any, it is from the Samajwadis themselves”. He said his government has already fulfilled all the promises that the party has made in 2012 and people have full faith in his words. “We even went beyond our manifesto and did what we didn’t promise,” he said, adding that his government, when it will return to power, would focus on balanced development between the rural and urban areas. He said that the expressways were designed to give an impetus to rural economy and he would construct more expressways.

Mr Yadav said the party had given slogans like ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas’ and ‘achche din’, but now had nothing to offer. “I have seen achche din as well as burre din but their achche din have not yet arrived. They have not gone beyond holding the broom and doing yoga,” he said.

Terming the BSP a “patthar ki sarkar”, he said the stone elephants would get bigger if the BSP had its way.

Mr Yadav, in his first public appearance after becoming national president of the party, asked the candidates to prepare a road map of development for each constituency, which would be implemented when he returned to power.

Some of the other promises made in the manifesto include subsidised midday meal for laborers, free ration and medical services for those earning less than Rs 1.5 lakh per year, oldage homes for senior citizens and ambulances for animals. For the minorities, the CM has promised better educational facilities and an atmosphere of religious freedom.