Row over entry to JP centre: Akhilesh asks Nitish to pull out of BJP-led NDA

Lucknow, Oct 11 (PTI) SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday urged Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to withdraw his party’s support to the NDA, saying the BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh has stopped ‘Samajwadis’ from paying tributes to socialist ideologue Jayaprakash Narain.

Kumar owes his political emergence to JP’s movement, the former chief minister noted.

The Samajwadi Party chief also said that bamboo barricades would not have been able to stop ‘Samajwadis’ from visiting the Jay Prakash Narain International Centre (JPNIC) if it was not a festival day.

Yadav had reached the JPNIC on Thursday night and lambasted the Yogi Adityanath government for barring its main gate behind tin sheets apparently to prevent entry.

“The people of BJP are destructive. Give them anything good and they will destroy it. They stopped us Samajwadi people in the past also. This is the ninth day of Navratri, it is a festive day. What kind of ‘adharm’ they are doing on a day of festival,” he said.

He wondered what kind of conspiracy was this that the BJP is celebrating the festival (ninth day of Navratri) but not allowing others to do so.

“Had it not been a day of festival these wooden structures (barricades) would not have been able to stop the Samajwadis,” Yadav said.

He further noted that there are lot of “socialist people” who are part of the government and involved in running the system.

“The chief Minister of Bihar (Nitish Kumar) also keeps talking about Jayaprakash Narayan ji from time to time, in fact he has emerged (as a politician) from JP’s movement itself. This is a chance that he has got to withdraw support from a government which is stopping Samajwadis from remembering Jayaprakash on his anniversary,” Yadav said.

“Samajwadis have given respect to him (JP) and will continue to do so,” Yadav added.

Kumar’s JD(U) is part of the BJP-led NDA.

The SP chief garlanded a bust of Jayaprakash Narayan mounted atop a vehicle outside his residence where hundreds of party workers had gathered after authorities blocked his visit to the JP International Centre citing security concerns.

The late JP, as the socialist leader and fierce critic of the Emergency was known, has emerged as the latest centre of the tussle between the ruling BJP and the opposition party.