Political war of words intensifies in poll-bound UP

Kanpur/ Agra - The war of words has intensified among political parties in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of playing communal politics.

"All the sage and saints collectively went to the Election Commission and said that the BJP lying and grabbing votes on the basis of religion. They must be served a notice and they should disclose as to why they have not kept their promises. When the notice was sent then the BJP refused to respond and said that they did not make any such promise," Singh told a gathering in Kanpur.

Recently, senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani stated that to see the completion of Ayodhya temple at the disputed site was his lifelong dream.

Singh also hit out at Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for changing the name of sales tax in the state during his regime in the year 1996.

"Mulayam Singh Yadav said that if his party is voted to power, he would abolish VAT (value-added tax). He made a promise in the year 1996 that he would abolish sales tax. The sales tax was abolished but its name was changed to commercial tax and now VAT would be changed to MAT," he said.

Meanwhile, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav has lashed out at Bahujan Samaj Party for misgovernance and its failure to address the woes of the poor.

"The leaders of BSP have done a lot of injustice and committed atrocities on the people of Uttar Pradesh. They have done wrong with the people and have filed false cases and this government has inflicted a lot of pain on people and has troubled them, which no other government has done. The most affected people were the villagers and the farmers and the government is responsible for spiralling inflation," Yadav said in Agra.

He also blamed the Central and State governments for underdevelopment in the state.

"Both the governments are preventing the prosperity of the state. If the government of Uttar Pradesh is involved in corruption then the central government is also extending its support in increasing the corruption. We can see the corruption done by the BSP as they have invested the funds in Urea scam, fertiliser scam, building monuments but the corruption done by the federal government is not visible," he added.

The Uttar Pradesh polls are being viewed as an opportunity for major political parties to re-establish their foothold in the country's fifth largest and most populous state.
 
A new 403-member state assembly will be elected in March. The poll results will broadly indicate trends for the 2014 general elections.