With the voting for Uttar Pradesh by-elections barely 10 days away, the battle between the Samajwadi Party and the BJP intensified through poster war and social media posts attacking each other.

Polling for nine assembly by-elections in the state will be held on November 13.

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The war of words between the two parties that started with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s statement ‘Bantenge to Katenge’ is now becoming more intense. SP leader Amit Choubey fired a fresh salvo against the BJP by putting up a poster with Akhilesh Yadav’s photo outside the SP office on Saturday night to counter the slogan. It read: ‘Mathadhish will divide and cut… PDA will add and win’.

Amit Choubey said, “Through this poster, we have put into words the sentiments of the entire state. Law and order have collapsed in the state today. Bulldozers are being run on the houses of the poor. Chief Minister Yogi is first and foremost an abbot, he does not talk about humanity and belonging. They do not talk about the development of the state but instead, talk about dividing and cutting. Through this poster, we have put into words the feelings of Dalits, forward and backward people.”

Akhilesh Yadav called Yogi Adityanath’s ‘Bantege to Katenge’ remark that aimed to unite the Hindu community in favour of the BJP the worst slogan in political history. An earlier poster of the SP read: ‘Neither we divide, nor cut, but will remain with PDA.’

Meanwhile, BSP supremo Mayawati gave a statement on the same line on Saturday. She said, “If we join the BSP, we will move ahead and remain safe.”

Dismissing the ongoing poster war between the SP and the BJP as useless, she appealed to the people to join the BSP.

The BSP chief said to divert public attention from their shortcomings, the BJP is busy promoting slogans like ‘Bantenge to Katenge’ while the SP & Company’s ‘Judenge to Jeetenge’, etc. All their policies have been wrong. Hence it is better to join the BSP to move forward and ensure safety and security.

BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi, in a post on social media on Sunday, claimed, “The SP is confused. The new slogans with new hoardings they are coming out reflect its frustration. Our development failed their MY and PDA slogans. The SP knows very well that it cannot sail through the by-elections with these slogans and hoardings.”

He declared that the SP would be badly defeated in all the seats in the by-elections.

Meanwhile, after SP candidate from the Sisamau seat Naseem Solanki’s Jalabhishek on Shivalinga, BJP candidate Ramveer Singh from Moradabad’s Kundarki was seen wearing a netted cap, a religious symbol. A large number of people from the Muslim community attended a meeting of the BJP’s Minority Morcha in Kundakari on Saturday including women. On the occasion, Muslim voters offered a skull cap to Ramveer on the stage.

Then Ramveer has been seen meeting people from the Muslim community raising their hands to take the oath saying: ‘We swear to God, we will vote only for Ramveer.’