Akhilesh cites three-train crash in Odisha to target BJP's 'triple-engine' govt in UP

Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav on Monday referred to the Balasore railway accident involving three trains as he trashed the BJP’s recent campaign for a ”triple-engine” government in Uttar Pradesh.

”Those who are showing dreams of a triple engine, you have seen that the triple engines collided,” he said in an apparent reference to the tragedy on Friday that claimed 275 lives and injured over 1,100 others.

A day after the accident, Yadav on Twitter shared a clip of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw explaining the anti-collision system deployed in trains and said, ”The false technology of the false government has taken so many lives.” Ahead of the recent urban local body polls in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP had asked voters to elect the party at the third tier of governance as well, after bringing it to power at the Centre and in the state.

The BJP swept the polls held on May 4 and 11 winning 813 out of the 1,420 seats in the corporators category in the state’s urban local bodies, while opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 191 and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 85. The ruling party in Uttar Pradesh also registered wins on all the 17 mayoral seats in the state.

Yadav also mocked the BJP’s ”Tiffin Pe Charcha” outreach campaign, which implies ”discussion over a meal”, launched to mark nine years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

”Price rise and unemployment are at an all-time high, and the government is conducting tiffin events. What is this tiffin programme of the BJP? You are neither giving food to children nor are you giving shoes to them,” he told reporters here. ”Those who are not giving food to children, and are themselves having tiffin, what can be expected from them… that they will improve the future of the children?” the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister asked. Asked why the party chose to start its (2024 Lok Sabha) election campaign from Lakhimpur Kheri, the SP chief said, ”Lakhimpur was once known for the sweetness of its sugarcane and sugarmills. Then one morning, a ‘Thar’ moved, and Lakhimpur came to be known for it. Have the farmers who died got justice? Do the farmers have the hope that in the BJP’s rule, their income will increase or get doubled?” On October 3, 2021, eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri district’s Tikonia after violence erupted when farmers were protesting against the then Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to the area. According to a Uttar Pradesh Police FIR, four farmers were mowed down by an SUV. Yadav also exuded confidence that in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP will be wiped out from the state and also the country. He also visited his party workers and leaders at their residences. On Tuesday, Yadav is scheduled to participate in the concluding session of a training workshop for SP workers in Devkali.