"Samajwadi Party friendship with Azam Khan, Atiq, Mukhtar led...," UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], April 13 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya asserted that it was the Samajwadi Party's "friendship" with Azam Khan, Atiq Ahmed and Mukhtar Ansari that led to the wiping out of SP in the state.
Addressing a press conference, Keshav Prasad Maurya on Saturday said that "Akhilesh Yadav's three friends, Azam Khan, Atiq Ahmed and Mukhtar Ansari, of whom two have gone and one is left, are the main reason behind the wipeout of the SP in the state."
On April 15, mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were shot dead by assailants while the duo were interacting with the media. Mukhtar Ahmed died of cardiac arrest in a hospital in Banda last month.
The Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya targeted the opposition and said that the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies will win a landslide victory in 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh and described the Samajwadi Party's Indi alliance as a victim of internal strife and described the situation of the Congress as similar.
"The Samajwadi Party is the mother of goons, criminals, and mafia and said that the popular slogan for the SP was, 'Jis gaadi mai SP ka jhanda ussme bhaitha gunda' (The goon sitting in the car with the SP flag). Before 2017, the governance of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav led to providing government support to criminals," he said.
He said that the Samajwadi Party has done injustice to the backward and minority communities for the last several years and called the Samajwadi Party the "mother of corruption."
Reacting to the statement of Congress candidate from Saharanpur Lok Sabha seat Imran Masood, Maurya said "The votes that he is looking towards by making this statement he will not get them. BJP's lotus will bloom."
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Congress leader and party candidate from Saharanpur Imran Masood stirred a fresh controversy by saying that if the BJP comes to power, "Muslims will be treated badly" and that "this election is not just about winning or losing, but to save ourselves (Muslims)."
"This election is not about defeating or winning. This is a choice about saving yourself. If BJP comes to power, the first treatment will be for me and you..." he said on Thursday.
After his video viral, Masood clarified his remark and said that the people will only be safe when the country's constitution is safe.
Meanwhile, the BJP reacted to Masood's statement and called it unfortunate.
The Lok Sabha election 2024 in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1. Votes polled in the seven phases of the Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha election 2024 will be counted on June 4.
In the 2019 elections, turning the arithmetic of the SP-BSP 'Mahagatbandhan' in Uttar Pradesh upside down, the BJP and its ally Apna Dal (S) won 64 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats. The partners in the alliance, Akhilesh Yadav's SP and Mayawati's BSP could only muster 15 seats.
The election for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases starting April 19. (ANI)