Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said on Tuesday that the results of the Assembly elections, scheduled for early next year, would be ‘historic’, even as he attempted to predict the number of seats his Samajwadi Party would win depending on the alliance it gets into.
“We will win the elections and if we forge an alliance, we will cross 300 seats. I am eagerly looking forward to the elections because I know that people are also waiting to return us to power,” he said.
The day, however, was marked by the Cabinet meeting in which the state government approved a proposal that seeks to implement the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission.
The major sop to the state government employees, regarding which a state-constituted committee had submitted its report recommending pay hike at par with Central government employees, comes with only a few months before the state goes to polls.
As per the new salary structure the lowest rung employees will get a minimum of Rs 18,000 per month while the chief secretary will be entitled to a salary of Rs 2.25 lakh per month.
The CM said that the pay hike would be implemented from January 2017 and would benefit 16 lakh government employees and over six lakh pensioners.
He also slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation and said that the decision that came without any preparation had thrown farmers into a state of distress.
“Those standing in queues outside banks to get cash today will soon stand in a queue to teach BJP a lesson,” he said.
He also lashed out at BSP president Mayawati and said that she had transferred her votes to the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and ended up without any seats for herself. He said that the BSP leader did not want the people to progress and was essentially anti-development.
The chief minister also denied reports of rift in the party over ticket distribution and said that if he had any opinion or suggestion, he would place it before the party president.
