Akhilesh Yadav Exclusive: 'Kerala far ahead of UP, Yogi does not know'

Yogi Adityanath is interested only in violence and communalism, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has said in an exclusive interview with Asianet News.

Lashing out at the Uttar Pradesh chief minister for his remarks on Kerala, Akhilesh said that Yogi does not even know who to compare the state with. 

"If we look at the Niti Aayog parameters, Kerala is far ahead of Uttar Pradesh in the health and social sectors. Kerala is good in the health, education, and employment sectors. Our chief minister does not know who to compare with. He is interested in violence and communalism only. Kerala is ahead of Uttar Pradesh in all areas," he said.

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"There is much more that needs to be done. The health sector needs improvement, the educated you here need employment, no investment they had promised has come in, fertilizers for farmers have not been procured, paddy cost has not been given, sugarcane farmers have not been paid on time and the electricity bill is highest here," Akhilesh added.

To recall, in a video message last week ahead of the first phase of voting in the Uttar Pradesh election, Yogi said that if his government were to go out of power, the work done by him in the last few years would go waste and the state would become like Kashmir, Kerala and West Bengal.

The remarks had prompted a response in Hindi from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. In his response on Twitter, Pinarayi said that Yogi was feeling paranoid because if Uttar Pradesh were to ever become Kerala, it would have the best healthcare and education facilities and people would not be murdered in the name of faith and caste.    

Yogi later went on to justify his remarks, highlighting the political murders taking place in Kerala. 'Where else other than West Bengal and Kerala has it happened," he asked.