Lucknow: Pressure cookers for women, 50 per cent concession in bus fares for women, smart phones and laptops for the youth, 1kg ghee and milk powder for children in primary schools and monthly pension for over 1 crore poor — Samajwadi Party national president and UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, on Sunday, adopted the Jayalalithaa pattern of politics and liberally announced sops for all sections of society in the party election manifesto.
Releasing the manifesto, Mr Yadav said that the Samajwadis are way ahead of competition, and if there is any, it is from the Samajwadis themselves.
Mr Yadav said that his government has already fulfilled all the promises that the party has made in 2012 and people have full faith in his words. “In fact we even went beyond our manifesto and did even what we had not promised,” he said, adding that his government, when it will return to power, would focus on balanced development between the rural and urban areas. He said that the expressways were designed to give an impetus to rural economy and he would construct more greenfield expressways.
Lashing out at the BJP, Mr Yadav said the party had given slogans like ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas’ and ‘achche din’, but now had nothing to offer.
“I have seen achche din well as burre din but their achche din have not yet arrived. They have not gone beyond holding the broom and doing Yoga,” he said.
Terming the BSP a “patthar ki sarkar”, he said the stone elephants would get bigger if the BSP had its way.
Some of the other promises made in the manifesto include subsidised midday meal for laborers, free ration and medical services for those earning less than Rs 1.5 lakh per year, old age homes for seniors and ambulances for animals. For the minorities, the CM has promised better educational and an atmosphere of religious freedom.
