LUCKNOW: Targeting the opposition, especially, Samajwadi Party , chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Monday that despite being an atheist, socialist ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia had also said that Ram, Shiva and Krishna were of utmost importance in the country but his followers today do not follow his ideals.Speaking in the assembly, Yogi said, “Even though socialist ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia was an atheist but he too maintained that Ram, Shiva and Krishna were of utmost importance for this country. It is an irony that his followers today are not following his ideals.”Reiterating that that his government would solve the Ramjanmabhoomi issue within 24 hours, Yogi said, “Ayodhya’s identity is because of Lord Ram and the faith associated with million of Hindus .”Further taking a jibe at the SP-BSP alliance in UP, Yogi questioned if SP chief Akhilesh Yadav would also contribute half of the public money which BSP supremo Mayawati has to pay for erecting statues of herself and her party symbol, elephant, in public places during her regime.Yogi said that since Akhilesh and Mayawati have a seat sharing arrangement, the SP chief should have thought of contributing money in similar proportions if SC passes such an order.The Supreme Court had recently observed that BSP chief Mayawati should reimburse the public money spent on installing statues in memorials and parks in Lucknow and Noida.Trying to drive a wedge between alliance partners, Yogi said that Akhilesh had ordered investigation into construction of memorials and even said that marriage halls and schools be constructed in the vacant area of the memorials.Yogi’s attack came hours after a combined opposition staged a walkout over hooch deaths in Saharanpur and Kushinagar.Accusing the opposition of not being able to digest the progress in UP in the last couple of years, Yogi said, “Choron ko chandni rat pasand nahi aati hai... (Thieves don’t like moonlight). They are protesting for the sake of protest.”“In logon (SP and BSP) ne pradesh ko loota hi nahi...noch dala. How can these people feel good when the state progresses. These people do not believe in lok tantra (democracy) but loot tantra (ideology of looting),” Yogi added.“Every goonda was close to the previous government. They gave the state the corridor of communal violence while we are giving it a defence corridor,” CM Yogi said, adding that BJP has changed the perception of the state not only within the country but abroad as well.“Exemplary punishment will be given to those found guilty in the hooch tragedy that claimed lives of scores of people,” he said, adding that some people were deliberately trying to vitiate the atmosphere in the state through such acts.In an apparent attack on AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s husband Robert Vadra, Yogi said that people who are falsely raising finger at Kumbh preparations seem to have forgotten about the corruption in Commonwealth Games after which some people purchased highend flats in England.

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