BJP: PDA’s objective is to serve political interests of a family

Lucknow: Attacking Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, UP BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary on Wednesday said that the SP's PDA stood for ‘Parivar Development Authority', whose sole objective is to advance the political interests of a single family.Chaudhary's attack came hours after Akhilesh stepped up his criticism of the BJP, accusing the saffron party brass of being "gripped by fear and frustration" following electoral setbacks in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the growing prominence of the ‘PDA political narrative' in UP.Akhilesh said BJP leaders appear unable to escape references to the term. "BJP members seem to see only ‘PDA' whether they are asleep or awake, and they only hear ‘PDA' everywhere," Akhilesh said, suggesting that the BJP is unsettled by its rising resonance in political discourse.He said that the BJP's recent poll performance had triggered internal anxiety about future contests. "Frustrated by their defeat in the Lok Sabha elections and fearing the prospects of being ousted in the upcoming assembly elections — and then having to face punishment for their misdeeds — they have started trembling at the mention of PDA," Akhilesh said.Hitting back, Chaudhary said that the SP's PDA was not a campaign for social justice. "Those who have ties with the mafia and rioters fear the bulldozer. It (bulldozer) was not being used against the poor, but against goons and land mafias — nurtured by the SP — who for years usurped the rights of the poor, illegally encroached upon land to make their palatial mansions through the sheer force of criminality," he said."Today, the rule of law prevails in Uttar Pradesh, and action is being taken against criminals. This is precisely what stings the SP the most," Chaudhary claimed."While the SP is making a hue and cry about PDA, the people of UP are witness that it was during the SP's ‘jungle raj' (lawless regime) that the backward classes, Dalits, and minorities faced severe persecution," the BJP chief claimed.He said for the SP, the mantra has always been ‘Family first, the party second, and the public last'.Chaudhary said that the SP had been out of power for a decade, and its members should be mentally prepared to remain in the opposition for the next decade as well.