UP Council: Adityanath reminds SP, BSP about the ‘guesthouse’ rift between them

With just a year to go before the next assembly elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday reminded the SP and the BSP of the infamous guesthouse incident that created a rift between the two parties now in the opposition.

The reference was sprung on the two parties during the CM’s speech in the Legislative Council while wrapping up the debate on the Governor’s address.

He was criticising the opposition over the slogan-shouting and the walkout during Governor’s address to a joint sitting of the two Houses of the state legislature, saying such behaviour did not augur well for democracy.

''Their behaviour against a Governor, who also happens to be a woman, is not good. But it is there in history, and the state guesthouse episode is an example of their behaviour,” he said.

In 1995, Samajwadi Party MLAs and their supporters barged into a Lucknow guesthouse where Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati was meeting her MLAs, purportedly to pull the plug on the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led coalition government.

She went on to become the chief minister with the support of the BJP. Years later, in 2019, the SP and the BSP came together again to fight against the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, only to part ways again.

In his two-and-a-half-hour address, Adityanath said it is a misconception that creating ruckus while raising an issue is appreciated.

“People do not consider this good. In public life, we should set an example for people to follow,'' the chief minister said.

''Continuing the bad tradition will do no good to any party or people. But it is a matter of habit that refuses to change,'' he said.

The opposition had created a ruckus last week during Governor Anandiben Patel’s address, protesting over the three new farm laws enacted at the Centre.

The chief minister also attacked the Congress, while praising the handling of the coronavirus pandemic by the Narendra Modi-led BJP government.

“Imagine the time before 2014. The previous government could not organise the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, the country was insulted,” he said in an apparent reference to the glitches and charges of corruption related to the event.

“Could these people have fought coronavirus,'' he asked.

Adityanath said his government has built facilities to test about two lakh people for coronavirus every day, when hardly any labs existed in the state for this when the pandemic broke out.

He claimed that every major investor in the world is now willing to invest in Uttar Pradesh knowing that the law and order situation in the state is good.

He cited compared National Crime Records Bureau statistics for 2016-17 and 2020-21 to claim that there has been a 45 per cent reduction in cases of rape since his BJP government came into power in the state. Dacoity cases fell by 65 per cent, riots by 40 per cent and murders by nearly 20 per cent, he said.

The CM said 27 per cent more cases have been registered under the Arms Act during the same period, nearly 20 percent more under the National Security Act (NSA), 31 per cent more under the Gangster Act and over 50 per cent more under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

He said nine new police stations, 29 police posts and 16 cybercrime police stations have been set up during the period.