Lashing out at Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav for calling the civic body polls ‘an election for garbage collection’, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adiyanath on Monday said, “His statement is an insult to six crore people. Rather, this is an election to clean the garbage, filth and anarchy of SP-BSP.”

Addressing a public meeting in Barabanki ahead of municipal election Yogi Adiyanath said, “Prior to 2017, every city had virtually turned into a garbage dump. The cities were identified by piles of garbage in them. You must have read the statement of the president of Samajwadi Party that he is not interested in municipal elections because it is an election for garbage collection. That is picking up garbage is against their reputation.”

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Use of such words by a person who has been the chief minister of a state like Uttar Pradesh is an insult to the six crore people living in urban areas of the state, he said, adding that “this is not garbage, rather it is an election to ‘clean the garbage, filth and anarchy of SP-BSP, ” he added.

“On the contrary,” he said, “we are contesting the municipal elections as we strive to make our cities smart and safe and to improve the quality of life of people by providing basic amenities. The BJP Government is working towards making urban life clean, beautiful, and safe. Therefore,  the party has come to appeal to you to vote for the BJP candidates in the municipal bodies elections to bring about a comprehensive change in the standard of living of the people as well as  to provide them with the benefits of welfare schemes.”

He attacked the Opposition parties by saying that the people of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Congress were following a policy of appeasement and used to divide the society on the basis of caste.

In an election rally in Mirzapur, Yogi Adityanath said, “Those who made you yearn for a drop of water make them yearn for one vote.”

He said that dynasts created obstacles in the way of development as they have nothing to do with development. They looted funds meant for welfare schemes for the poor. On the other hand, the double-engine government was engaged in solving drinking water problem once and for all.