Yogi Adityanath said that Akhilesh Yadav don't have courage to campaign in Kairana (File)
As campaigning in the Lok Sabha bye-election in this sensitive constituency picks up, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today said his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav's hands were stained with the blood of victims of the Muzaffarnagar riots.
"The SP chief doesn't have the courage to come here and campaign. His hands are stained with the blood of Muzaffarnagar riot victims," he said in a meeting at Ambheta in Saharanpur district.
The chief minister's reference was to the clashes in adjoining Muzaffarnagar district in 2013. In 2016, there was communal tension in Shamli district's Kairana block with allegations that the threatened Hindus were leaving their homes.
Attacking the SP government, Yogi Adityanath said, during the previous government, there were no jobs for the youngsters and only a specific community got jobs.
We have adopted the practice of taking people from every caste and religion along with us, he said.
The May 28 polls are being held to fill the Kairana Lok Sabha seat, spread over Saharanpur and Shamli districts, which fell vacant after the death of BJP's Hukum Singh.
His daughter Mriganka Singh is now the BJP candidate, pitted against Rashtriya Lok Dal's Tabassum Hasan who is backed by the opposition, including Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party.
The opposition hopes to repeat the shock defeat its joint candidates delivered recently in the bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh.
Attacking the opposition, Yogi Adityanath said, during elections they get united, because they have nothing to do with development and good governance.
All of them are talking about getting united, but the unity is not visible. The SP president is yet to be seen here, as people will question him about Muzaffarnagar riots if he comes here, he said.