Gonda (UP): Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav is upbeat about his party’s prospects in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, and the zeal reflects in his prompt answers at a political event on Friday. When asked about the ‘Fark Saaf Hai’ (The difference is evident) campaign in which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been pointedly targeting the Samajwadi Party about its alleged poor record on the law and order front, Akhilesh spun the saffron campaign in his favour.“100 (emergency number introduced by the last SP government) was changed to 112, fark saaf hai, Samajwadis gave laptops, BJP is giving tablets, fark saaf hai, SP built a district hospital in Gonda, these people have inaugurated a medical college in the same compound, fark saaf hai. SP built a four-lane road from Lucknow to Gonda, now BJP has transformed its divider into a resting place for bulls, fark saaf hai,” he responded. The former chief minister, whose slogan for the 2017 assembly polls was ‘Kaam Bolta Hai’ (Work speaks for itself), was speaking at a press briefing after he unveiled a statue of Vinod Kumar Singh alias Pandit Singh, the senior SP leader who died last year because of COVID-19. He was supposed to hold his Vijay Rath Yatra at Gonda but cancelled it because of rising COVID-19 cases in the state. The event turned into an election gathering, albeit a small one, with party supporters packing the venue – Suraj Hotel, owned by Pandit Singh’s nephew and possible party candidate from the Gonda assembly seat, Suraj Singh. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav at an event in Gonda. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad MahaprashastaAkhilesh’s speech in one of the poorest districts of the state gave a glimpse of what his agenda would be in the election campaign – a cocktail of poll promises mixed with good doses of alleged failures of the Adityanath government. He made multiple allegations against the Adityanath government. “You can recall how so many of us struggled to get hospital beds and oxygen last year before losing our loved ones. We lost Pandit Singhji too despite trying very hard to keep him alive. So many people could have been saved had there been enough oxygen. Who can forget the dead bodies floating in Ma Ganga! Today, the government is not ready to even accept that it mismanaged the COVID-19 situation,” he said. Also Read: Prayagraj: As Ganga’s Water Level Rises, More Dead Bodies Begin to Emerge“Some walked for 400 km, some for 500 km and some walked 1000 km back to their homes during that time. Did the government give them any assistance? Samajwadis only extended came to people’s rescue. I told my party workers to help people as much as they could,” he added. “I built a district hospital in Gonda. Today, these people have inaugurated the same building as a medical college. Jo aakhri samay pe shilanayas karta hai, woh kewal shilanyas hi karta hai (Those who lay foundation stones at the last moment will only do that in the rest of the tenure),” he said amidst loud applause. Speaks about price rise, unemploymentWhile the government’s alleged mismanagement of the pandemic remained his primary concern, Akhilesh also touched upon the rise in prices of essential commodities and fuel prices, corruption in the purchase of agricultural produce and lack of employment in the state. “You saw how examination papers were leaked so many times. Who is leaking these papers? Let me tell you that the government itself is leaking these papers so that they don’t have to give jobs,” the SP president claimed, similarly alleging that most of the fertilisers being sold by the government to farmers are being “stolen” by BJP leaders and their acolytes. Thuggy Yogi in his UP ads with Kolkata’s MAA flyover, our JW Marriott & our iconic yellow taxis!Change your soul or at least your ad agency Gudduji!P.S. Looking forward to FIRs against me in Noida now 🙂 pic.twitter.com/I7TRUMvCjO— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) September 12, 2021He went on to say that if voted to power, his first preference would be to resolve the issues of contractual teachers and temporary employees of the UP power corporation and anganwadi workers, as he sprinkled his speech with SP’s achievements during his tenure, from roads to hospitals to improvements in higher education.He appealed to the people to vote for the SP to see what “real development” looks like, and promised 300 units of electricity to all. At this point, some of the local leaders stood up to tell him that he must talk about the lack of proper sewerage and the problem of bottlenecks leading to messy traffic jams in Gonda. Akhilesh promised that if he comes to power, he will build sewage lines in every village and if necessary, he would also think of building an “outer ring road” in Gonda to meet traffic needs. As he ended his speech, he urged people to not get misled by “expensive advertisements” by the Adityanath government. “The BJP is so scared of SP. Such is its anxiety that even the government’s advertisements are defaming those wearing laal topi (the red cap that is associated with the SP),” he said. “Our money is being spent by the government to put up hoardings. Each of those vigyapan (advertisements) is a lie. The flyovers in the hoardings are from Kolkata, the buildings shown are from America. Hitler had only one propaganda minister [Joseph Goebbels]. In UP, the whole government is nothing but propaganda,” Akhilesh said. “Is sarkaar ne pichle paanch varshon mein apne jhooth se sirf humein uljhaya hai. In logon ne naukriyon ko, kheti ko, parikhsaon ko sirf uljhaya hai (This government has only misled us through their web of lies over the last five years. They have complicated everything from entrance examinations to farming to jobs). Voting them out of power will be the biggest homage to Pandit Singhji,” he added.