'Anti-corruption' BJP will prosecute Akhilesh, Mayawati if found guilty: Maurya

New Delhi [India], Jan. 24 (ANI): Promising a corruption-free regime, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya on Tuesday said that his party would after forming the government leave no stone unturned in punishing the people involved in corrupt practices then may it be Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav or Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati. Training guns at Akhilesh, Maurya dubbed the Samajwadi government as a sinking ship. "The BJP government will revive UP from corrupt politics. During the tenure of Akhilesh government, no work was done without corruption. I would like to tell that when the BJP will form a government in Uttar Pradesh then the people involved in corruption then may it be anybody even Akhilesh Yadav or former chief minister Mayawati will be prosecuted and put behind bars," said Maurya. The BJP leader also highlighted the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh to put forth his assertion. "He (Akhilesh Yadav) was talking about dial 100, but crime keeps on happening and this endeavour of dial 100 which he talks about remains useless. Akhilesh Yadav has miserably failed. The Samajwadi party is a sinking ship and the Congress is a ship which had sunk in the past. I will say that even if the BSP joins in with the Congress and Samajwadi party, it is the BJP which will win," he added. Continuing his tirade against Akhilesh, Maurya underlined that the former who commenced his campaigning for the polls from Sultanpur earlier in the day urged the people of the state to vote for a candidate, who is drenched in corruption cases and is under the scanner of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). "The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, who talks of ending corruption, has today campaigned for Gayatri Prasad from Sultanpur. Prasad is an accused in corruption cases and is under the scanner of CBI and this proves that Akhilesh Yadav's pitch against corruption is fake," said Yadav. "Akhilesh Yadav wants to fool the people of Uttar Pradesh, but the masses of my state will not tolerate crime. Akhilesh Yadav has always fooled the people of the state. In his tenure, the recruitment in government jobs were done on the basis of caste and religion," he added. Launching a vehement attack on the BJP over the demonetisation of high-end currency notes, Akhilesh earlier in the day said money is not black or white, but the transactions are and said it was only the common man who faced the sole brunt of the drive. Akhilesh even talked about the feud that recently plagued the first family of Uttar Pradesh and termed it as 'for the betterment of people'. Setting off his election campaign at Sultanpur, Yadav said at a rally, "It's the common man who suffered the most because of demonetisation. So many people lost their lives. People were not able to withdraw their own hard-earned money. The money earned through hard work and integrity was declared black." Akhilesh took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi too and said a country cannot function if one person decides that the currency notes of 500 and 1000 won't be legal tender after midnight. The Chief Minister earlier on Sunday launched the party manifesto for elections, which focused entirely on women and youth empowerment. Later that day, the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance was formally announced. Akhilesh, along with other leaders from both parties, has initiated the campaign for the upcoming polls in the state. He is expected to address another rally in Lakhimpur on January 25. Uttar Pradesh is set to have a seven-phase polling between February 11 and March 8. (ANI)