JPNIC row: Ideologically attached to project...willing to take it, says Akhilesh

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav said his party was ready to take Jai Prakash Narayan International Centre (JPNIC), located in the state capital, if the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanted to sell it. The project, which houses state-of-the-art amenities, was built during the SP regime in the state.

“We, Samajwadis, are ready to take JPNIC if the government wants to sell it. We’re ready to pay the price that any businessman will pay for it. Not just emotionally, but we’re also ideologically attached to JPNIC. It houses state-of-the-art facilities: the museum built in the memory of Jai Prakash ji is one of its kind in the entire country. We will accept donations, pool money but will surely like to take the project if the government wants to sell it,” the former chief minister told reporters at the party headquarters here on Tuesday.

“Kisan Bazar [also in Lucknow], which was built for farmers, is now known for cafes. The hotel on the premises was sold to a businessman. The BJP government is not creating any assets but only selling the ones that were created by previous governments,” added Yadav.

Speaking about the action against SP member Gulshan Yadav, from Pratapgarh, who had contested elections against Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya in 2022 assembly elections, the SP chief said: “False cases are being registered against him. The ones behind this will lose elections for sure. Though, this is not the right time, but I would like to say that the action taken by the BSP government against such people...I should not have changed it at all.”

On the issue of defence manufacturing in Jhansi and Bundelkhand region, Yadav attacked the BJP government and stated, “Not even a cracker has been manufactured in that region and they spoke about manufacturing defence equipment. Had the manufacturing started on time, then today we would not have been buying defence equipment from other countries.”

The SP chief also alleged that the ‘wrong’ name of a criminal killed in a police encounter in Agra was propagated just to defame a certain caste. “It was only after our objection that news channels, which were running the wrong name, apologized for their mistake,” said Yadav.

The SP chief, earlier, held a meeting with SP Mazdoor Sabha. “Our Mazdoor Sabha people have pledged today to defeat BJP in 2027 assembly polls. The government is exploiting labourers more than our farmers. The government is unable to address the issues of our labourers,” stated the SP Chief.

Reacting to the allegations, state minister for labour and employment, Anil Rajbhar said, “SP leaders are misguiding people...Between 2004 and 2007, it was kind of a famine which our labourers had to face during the SP regime. Now the same SP is talking about labourers. Today, in UP we have a government which is sensitive towards the issue of labourers. Our government will ensure that the son of a labourer will become a doctor, engineer and officer. Today we are running 10 schemes for the labourers in the state.”