Akhilesh retaliates, says BJP got its own man raided by mistakePM takes dig at SP over seizure of cash from Kanpur bizman

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 28

The political war for Uttar Pradesh today saw the BJP top brass — PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and party chief JP Nadda — take on SP’s Akhilesh Yadav over alleged links with Kanpur businessman Piyush Jain from whose properties officials allegedly seized huge amount of cash, gold and silver, a charge that has been scoffed at by the SP chief.

Linking jailed trader Piyush Jain with the SP, PM Modi mocked Yadav for complaining that the BJP was taking credit for his work. “Now when suitcases full of cash are coming out one after another, will they take credit for that also? They have spread the ‘itr’ of corruption,” he said, referring to the ‘Samajwadi itr’, a perfume launched by Pushpraj Jain, alias Pampi Jain.”

Inaugurating the Kanpur Metro Rail Project and the Bina-Panki Multiproduct Pipeline Project, the PM said, “The Centre is expanding and redefining the focus of development to the tier II and tier III cities.”

Shah and Nadda too mounted scathing attacks against the SP, addressing rallies in other parts of the state. Yadav, meanwhile, called the raids a “sign of BJP’s weak position in UP”.

Denying any link with Jain, the former CM claimed that the BJP got “its own businessman” raided “by mistake”. “Instead of SP leader Pushpraj Jain, it got Piyush Jain raided,” Yadav mocked.

He said ‘Samajwadi itr’(perfume) was launched by SP MLC Pushpraj Jain and not Piyush.