CM Yogi dines with SC family on Sankranti amid defections

On Friday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had a dinner with a Dalit family and remarked that during the Samajwadi Party's reign, it was "social exploitation" rather than "social justice," whereas the BJP government was trying to develop all sections of society without prejudice. 

After eating 'Khichri Sahbhoj' at the home of a Scheduled Caste member, the Chief Minister spoke with reporters. CM Yogi sent a strong message of 'no discrimination,' as some leaders who just left the BJP claimed.

Adityanath's visit to the Dalit family in Gorakhpur came just a few hours before Swami Prasad Maurya, Dara Singh Chauhan, and Dharam Singh Saini, who resigned from the government after accusing it of being anti-Dalit, gathered at the Samajwadi Party office in Lucknow to join the party ahead of the February 10 assembly elections. 

A number of legislators from the BJP and Apna Dal have also defected to the SP.

"Only 18,000 houses were given to people under PM Awas Yojna in the full five-year term of the Akhilesh Yadav government in UP, whereas the current BJP government has given 45 lakh houses to the poor and deprived under the scheme," Adityanath told reporters after a meal at Amritlal Bharti's home on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. "During the SP administration in UP, it was'samajik shoshan' (social exploitation) and not'samajik nyay' (social justice)," he remarked, referring to his predecessor and SP president Akhilesh Yadav. 

Under the "double engine" administration, he claimed, 2.61 crore households received toilets and 1.36 crore families benefited from the Ujjwala Yojana, referring to the BJP's reign at the centre and in the state.

Almost all rebel MLAs, including Maurya, Chauhan, and Saini, have cited the state government's lack of concern for the welfare of Dalits and the backward sections as primary grounds for leaving the saffron camp. 

Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases commencing February 10 and ending March 10 with the results being declared.