Ahead of grand Kashi Vishwanath event, Yogi takes a barb at rivals

Lucknow, Dec 13: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday attacked opposition parties over the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, a mega project that is expected to boost tourism in Varanasi in a big way, PTI reported.

Addressing the meeting of "booth adhyaksh" of the BJP's Braj region in Etah, Mr Adityanath said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to dedicate the ambitious Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in the heart of Varanasi to the people. Would Congress or "buaa" (apparently referring to BSP chief Mayawati) have built the Kashi Vishwanath Dhaam? And, whether "babuaa" (apparently referring to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav) sung the songs of Lord Shiva?"

His comments came after Akhilesh Yadav claimed the project was approved during his term and there was documentary evidence of it.

The Samajwadi Party leader also alleged that the BJP government has lined up a series of programmes to herald the start of the corridor only to deflect people's attention from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's failure to double the income of farmers.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister also hit out at the rival parties for doing nothing concrete for the people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The BJP was working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Where was the Congress? Where was the BSP? And what could be said of babuaa? Nothing was known about these people.

"All of them were under home quarantine, and taking rest in their homes. They were doing "dushprachar" (wrong publicity), and with "dushprachaar", they were playing with the lives of the people," the chief minister alleged.

Referring to laying of the foundation stone of Ganga Expressway by PM Modi, Mr Adityanath said, "On December 18, the prime minister will be laying the foundation stone of the Ganga Expressway. At that time, some people will say that they had seen the dream of laying the foundation, but could not build it."

(PTI)