BJP itself is a problem for country’s economy: Akhilesh

Lucknow: BJP itself is a problem for country’s economy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to save foreign exchange is confession of BJP’s decline, Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav in Prayagraj on Tuesday.

The former UP CM reached the Sangam city on Tuesday morning to call on former MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi at her Civil Lines residence to pay tributes to her husband, Puran Chand Joshi, who passed away earlier this month.

Akhilesh met the family, offered condolences and spent over half an hour talking to them. As he came out of Joshi’s residence, he stopped to interact with the waiting media persons.

Responding to a query on the Prime Minister’s call to curb use of fuel and avoid purchase of gold to save foreign exchange, he said: "The BJP, which is running the govt at the Centre for the past 12 years, has failed miserably to keep the country’s economy on track.”

“The BJP govt is compelled to issue appeals as it keeps lying to the people on one issue after another. The women reservation bill became a law in 2023, but the BJP is lying about it. The Prime Minister and the chief minister don’t want to accept that before Parliament and the state assembly, respectively,” Akhilesh said.

The former chief minister said that the BSP didn’t want to give reservation to women, which is why they were not accepting the fact that the law on women reservation was already in place. “Just imagine the situation that the BJP is in today. The CM got a special session of the assembly convened to bring a proposal which became a law in 2023 and was notified as well,” Akhilesh said.

Responding to a specific query about a man who was earlier photographed with BJP functionaries being held for the murder of West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari’s personal assistant, Akhilesh said people associated with BJP only were capable of doing something so lowly.

“I have heard that some BJP functionaries who were photographed with the accused have sought help from the chief minister to save him. This is not all. A Rs 100 crore scam has been unearthed in Jhansi where a close associate of top BJP brass is the kingpin,” he alleged.

Answering a question on speculations over MLA Pooja Pal’s induction in Yogi cabinet and then her name being dropped, Akhilesh said, “If the CM and the BJP have so much affection for Pooja Pal, they should make her the deputy chief minister. So what if there already are deputy chief ministers? One more deputy CM should not be a problem,” Akhilesh said.