People of Uttar Pradesh will cock-a-snook at 'Bua and Babua' alliance, Yogi Adityanath tweeted
Highlights
- People of UP would "cock-a-snook" at the grand alliance: Yogi Adityanath
- "Please show how," Akhilesh Yadav promptly tweeted in response
- Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati have formed an alliance to keep BJP out of UP
Yogi Adityanath's new tweet, taking a dig at the alliance between Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, got a prompt response from Akhilesh Yadav today. "Please show how" Mr Yadav tweeted after the Chief Minister insisted that the people of Uttar Pradesh would "Cock-a-snook" at the grand alliance in the state.
"People of Uttar Pradesh will cock-a-snook at 'Bua and Babua' Alliance. Time for casteism, nepotism and corruption is over now and politically vigilant people of UP will make sure that 5 multiplied by zero results into zero this time," the Chief Minister had tweeted, presumably referring to the opposition parties in the election fray from the state.
Mr Yadav shot back: "Chief Minister, I have not understood. Please tell us what 'cock a snook' means in Hindi or better still, show us how it is done so that the people know what they need to do".
Yogi Adityanath has been making jibes at the alliance ever since it was announced in January. "Gathbandhan or mahagathbandhan, we will do better than 2014", the chief minister had said after the announcement.
In the last Lok Sabha election, the BJP and its ally Apna Dal had won 73 of the state's 80 seats, sweeping out the two opposition power houses. Mr Yadav's efforts to get a second term in the state through an alliance with the Congress fell flat as the BJP stormed the state, winning 325 of 403 assembly seats.
This time, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati had ended the decades-old rivalry and joined hands to keep the BJP out of the state, which, with its 80 seats is crucial for any party aspiring to form government at the Centre. The Congress, which has been kept out of the alliance, is expected to win the upper caste votes, which went to the BJP last time, leaders of the two parties said.
The alliance was preceded by an acid test - Lok Sabha by-elections in Yogi Adityanatth's stronghold Gorakhpur, his deputy Keshav Maurya's Phulpur and Kairana. Their pooling of resources worked and the opposition managed to win all three seats.