"34 crore devotees have taken holy dip in Triveni Sangam": UP CM Yogi Adityanath

Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh) [India], February 2 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed a public rally in the Milkipur assembly constituency on Sunday, highlighting that, to date, 34 crore devotees have taken a holy dip in the Triveni Sangam.

CM Yogi Adityanath said, "When Ram Lalla was established in Ayodhya after so many years, even then the Samajwadi Party (SP)had opposed it. When the Ayodhya International Airport was named after Maharshi Valmiki even then the SP opposed it. In the last two months, all the tweets of the SP Chief have been against the Maha Kumbh, the biggest spiritual and cultural event of this century. Till now 34 crore devotees have taken a holy dip in Triveni Sangam."

The Chief Minister emphasised that the Milkipur by-election was a battle between nationalism and dynastic politics.

"Our government was formed in 2017. We created the Anti-Land Mafia Task Force. SP is worried that if the double-engine government keeps on progressing then all their businesses will be affected. They are the same party which hampered the progress of UP," he further said.

The Milkipur by-election is scheduled for February 5, with the votes to be counted on February 8. The Congress, an ally of the Samajwadi Party in the INDIA bloc, has decided not to field any candidate from Milkipur and has instead pledged support for the SP candidate.

For the by-polls, the SP has nominated Ajit Prasad, the son of Awadhesh Prasad. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Chandrabhan Paswan as their candidate.

Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav on Thursday expressed confidence in the party's victory on Thursday."Samajwadi Party will secure a very good victory and a message will go out from Milkipur to the entire country and state," said Dimple Yadav while speaking to the media here.

The BJP suffered a setback in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as the INDIA alliance won 43 seats with SP spearheading 37 seats, while the NDA alliance was kept on hold at 36 seats out of the 80 seats.

However, BJP saw a resurgence in assembly by-polls held last year in November where they won six seats and its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RJD) won one seat, while the Samajwadi Party only managed to win two seats out of nine contested.SP leader Dimple Yadav on Thursday also spoke on the stampede at Maha Kumbh and offered her condolences to the bereaved families.

"This is a very unfortunate and sad incident. Our condolences are with the affected families who have lost their loved ones. We pray to God that those who are in the hospital get well soon. We demand the government to increase the compensation amount and demand that all the bodies be handed over to the families," said Yadav. (ANI)