Mafia Raj casts shadow on UP urban poll campaigning

The ongoing campaigning for the upcoming municipal elections in Uttar Pradesh are not about civic amenities of the development work done in urban areas by outgoing corporators and councillors.

Mafia Raj casts shadow on UP urban poll campaigning
Source: IANS

Lucknow, April 24 (IANS) The ongoing campaigning for the upcoming municipal elections in Uttar Pradesh are not about civic amenities of the development work done in urban areas by outgoing corporators and councillors.

The election campaign hovers around mafia and the efforts undertaken by the Yogi Adityanath to wipe out mafia raj.

Even as the Samajwadi Party (SP) blames the state government for unleashing a reign of terror and lawlessness, the BJP has come out with a new campaign song that says, "Gunde pukarte hai Akhilesh aaiye'/dangon mein phirse UP ko wapas jalaiye".

The song with a parody track makes references to gangster-turned politicians Mukhtar Ansari and Atiq Ahmed, who was recently shot dead by three men in Prayagraj.

Montages of SP president Akhilesh Yadav play out during the course of the video and shows him meeting Mukhtar Ansari and Atiq Ahmad.

The lyrics further point out, "Apradhiyon ko neta banaya tumhi ne tha/Atiq aur Mukhtar ka uddhar tumhi se tha".

The BJP also accused the SP of looting Uttar Pradesh and shattering the dream of socialist leader Jaiprakash Narain.

A montage of visuals also show Akhilesh Yadav holding taps (a reference to allegations of theft of water taps), Muzaffarnagar riots, women being harassed on the streets, violence and SP chief meeting Atiq Ahmed, Mukhtar Ansari and Gayatri Prajapati.

Campaigning is on for UP urban local body elections which will be held in two phases on May 4 and 11, while the counting of votes will be done on May 13.