Lucknow: Taking strong note of stone pelting and subsequent police action on a Samajwadi Party delegation heading to meet the family of the Valmiki girl who was recently murdered in Ghazipur, party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said the party leadership is being pushed to take some “major decisions” and is being forced to adopt “guerrilla tactics” to reach out to crime victims and their families.The party leadership was peeved over the manner in which the SP delegation led by sitting MLAs and the party’s district chief was allegedly ‘attacked’ on Wednesday at Kataria village in Ghazipur while on the way to meet the family of a 16-year-old Vishwakarma community girl who was murdered. Akhilesh was agitated that instead of initiating action against stone pelters, police forcibly got injured SP workers discharged from hospitals where they were undergoing treatment and sent them to jail.“SP workers and functionaries are being subjected to atrocities by the BJP govt through the police. Things are coming to a pass where the party leadership will not desist from taking some ‘major decisions’, if needed,” Akhilesh said, replying to a query during a press conference in Lucknow. Later, the party sent out alerts to the Ghazipur administration about Akhilesh’s proposed visit to the Valmiki family on April 29.Akhilesh said the manner in which police were illegally detaining SP workers to stop them from reaching out to victims of crime, the only option left was to adopt “guerilla tactics”. He said the SP cadres were being forced not to part with information about their meeting crime victims to the local administration or the media in advance to evade being stopped by the authorities midway.‘BJP behind fires at makeshift settlements to grab land’Referring to the recent fire incidents in Lucknow and Ghaziabad where hundreds of makeshift settlements housing poor and destitute people were reduced to ashes, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said a common perception was that it was the BJP people themselves who were “behind the fire incidents to grab land”.He accused the BJP of serving stale food to women who were brought in from outside Lucknow to take part in the foot march led by the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues on the issue of the women reservation bill.Referring to heavy force deployment in West Bengal Assembly elections, Akhilesh said 3.5 lakh armed personnel have been deployed and the BJP govt was planning to deploy 6 lakh security personnel in UP polls in 2027. He said people in West Bengal and UP will not be intimidated by such moves and will vote in large numbers. He called upon his cadres to set a new record by ensuring 95% voting in UP polls.Referring to heavy force deployment in West Bengal assembly elections, Akhlesh said 3.5 lakh armed personnel have been deployed and the BJP govt was planning to deploy 6 lakh security personnel in UP polls in 2027. He said people in West Bengal and UP will not be intimidated by such moves and will vote in large numbers. He called upon his cadres to set a new record by ensuring 95% voting in UP polls.
