BJP National Executive meet: Amit Shah goes in UP poll mode, targets Akhilesh Yadav over Mathura, Kairana incidents

Attacking the Samajwadi Party government over recent incidents in Mathura and Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, which goes to polls early next year, BJP President Amit Shah on Sunday said the prevailing "atmosphere of violence" in the state is a matter of serious concern. "The present Samajwadi government, each day is expressing its helplessness in dealing with these situations," Shah said while citing recent clashes in Mathura as also violence in Kairana and subsequent migration of over 100 families.

Launching a frontal attack on the Akhilesh Yadav government, Shah told the two-day BJP National Executive which began here today that "the lack of development and the lack of governance in the biggest state of India i.e UP is increasing becoming a matter of serious concern".

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who briefed reporters about Shah's speech, said the BJP President specially discussed UP and said there was "an atmosphere of violence, which the government has been unsuccessful in curbing." On the recent incidents in Mathura, Shah said that this politics of forcefully grabbing government land with "patronage" was "very unfortunate." Shah also referred to the alleged migration of a community from the western UP town of Kairana and said that it is a matter of deep concern.

The BJP President called upon the party workers to work hard and expressed commitment that BJP will form government in UP with full majority after the assembly polls. He said 2017 is a year of challenges in which besides UP, there are polls in Uttarakhand, Punjab, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.