Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak on Thursday called Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav a "sinking ship" and his party a "party of goons" which has been "deleted" from the state.
"Akhilesh Yadav is a sinking ship. Samajwadi Party is a party of goons and loafers," Mr Pathak said in a press conference when asked his view on Yadav's apparent bait to defect to Keshav Prasad Maurya, the other deputy CM of the state.
Mr Yadav reportedly had recently said to Mr Maurya that he will make him the CM if he brings 100 MLAs with him.
"We have defeated the Samajwadi Party in 2017, 2019, and 2022. Samajwadi Party has been deleted. Mafia and goons used to encroach over shops and houses in their government," Mr Pathak said, adding that the BJP will secure a big victory in the upcoming municipal election.
On Wednesday, Mr Maurya and Uttar Pradesh BJP president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary had ridiculed Mr Yadav's offer saying he should worry about his MLAs, as 100 of of them were ready to join the BJP.
Mr Maurya, when asked about this, told reporters in Barabanki, "Akhilesh Yadav is behaving like a fish out of water ever since he has been thrown out of power".
Mr Maurya said Mr Yadav was making such absurd comments to remain in news. "His 100 MLAs are ready to join the BJP but we don't need to break his party because our government is running smoothly with full majority." Earlier, Bhupendra Chaudhary also in a tweet in Hindi had said, "Keshavji is a proven worker of the organisation and dedicated to the BJP's ideology. He will always be with us, he is not a selfish person. He will control Akhilesh Yadav, he (Yadav) won't be able to control him."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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