UP Elections 2017: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh cast his vote in Etawah today.
Highlights
- PM Modi said he was the "adopted son of Uttar Pradesh"
- "He can say whatever he wants," said Mulayam Singh
- Priyanka Gandhi has said, "UP doesn't need an adopted son"
Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh today dismissed Prime Minister Modi's claim that he was the "adopted son of Uttar Pradesh", saying the state has adopted the Samajwadi Party. The Prime Minister's claim has drawn a lot of criticism from the opposition, with Congress's Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to RJD chief Lalu Prasad rushing to comment on the matter.
Asked what he has to say about PM Modi's comment after he cast his vote in family turf Etawah, Mulayam Singh said, "He can say whatever he wants... Uttar Pradesh has adopted the Samajwadi Party".
On Thursday, speaking at a rally in Hardoi, PM Modi had drawn a parallel with Lord Krishan, saying, "Krishna was born in Uttar Pradesh but made Gujarat his karma bhoomi. I was born in Gujarat but Uttar Pradesh has adopted me". He had added that he would always care for Uttar Pradesh and would not let its people down.
The BJP, which had swept 70 of the state's 80 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 elections, is hoping for huge wins in the state, where it has not been in power for 20 years. PM Modi, who had won from the country's holiest pilgrim centre, Varanasi, had retained it, dropping the other seat from where he won - Gujarat's Vadodara.
But his comment, an attack on the partnership of sons of the soil Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi, drew a riposte from Priyanka Gandhi. "UP doesn't need an adopted son to do good for the state. Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav are two sons of UP," Ms Gandhi said at Raebareli, her mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi's parliamentary constituency. Ms Gandhi has been credited by her party with piloting the alliance with Samajwadi Party after it had hit an impasse over seat division in Gandhi family turf Amethi and Raebareli.
The BJP has labeled Mr Gandhi and Mr Yadav the "shehzaade" or princes, accusing them of a direct and privileged access to power because they belong to political dynasties.