Development work in Varanasi: BJP, SP fight it out for credit

Varanasi, Jul 4: Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has become a venue for tussle between the Centre and the state government, with both vying to claim credit for developmental works done here.

Modi's Parliamentary office in Ravindrapuri, called by many as the 'mini-PMO', and ruling Samajwadi Party's district unit office in Bhelupur, referred to by many as mini-CMO, display eagerness to solve grievances of the public to outshine each other.

Today, when Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma was hearing public grievances at the BJP office, the SP held an annual review meeting of the party, discussing issues including the ongoing tussle between the "mini-PMO and the mini-CMO" here.

The SP meet discussed who is better and effectively solving peoples grievances in the temple town. It also deliberated on ways to spread awareness about the policies of Samajwadi Party among people, sources said.

"It's a matter of prestige for us. It's a tussle between the PM and the CM (Akhilesh Yadav) here and thereby we are fully committed to redress the grievances of people more effectively in Varanasi.

We are pursuing people's problems with local officers and are also putting pressure on officials to solve the genuine problems of people at the earliest," SP district president Satish Fauzi, who is in-charge of the party's so-called mini-CMO, told PTI.

"There are hollow promises of PM Modi for the people of Varanasi but CM's promises are genuine and it is also being seen that his (Akhilesh's) promises are getting fulfilled.

Our efforts are to water down all claims of PM Modi in his election rallies and the promises mentioned in the manifesto prepared for his constituency during the Loksabha elections," he said.

PTI