Yogi govt enlists 100 days' achievements, Oppn punches holes

As his government completed a roller-coaster 100 days in the office, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath unveiled a booklet enlisting its "achievements", which the Opposition parties were quick to dismiss as "bunch of lies" compiled to "befool" the people.

At a crowded press conference here, Yogi released 48-page booklet '100 din vishwas ke' on his government's work since he assumed office and said he is "satisfied" with the performance.

"With the promise of transformation and development, we took oath of office on March 19. 100 days' time is a brief period. The resources were rather limited, but we accepted the challenge. And at this point of time, I am experiencing satisfaction," he said.

He said the results of the mandate given by the people in favour of transformation have been "positive" and that "we want to assure people that government has started initiatives to take UP forward on the path of development." But as he took a jibe at his political rivals saying "corruption" and "nepotism" in the past were responsible for lack of development in the state, the Opposition attacked his BJP government for "not fulfilling" BJP's poll promises.

Congress dubbed the booklet as a "bunch of lies".

UP state Congress vice president Sataydev Tripathi and spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh brought out a parallel booklet titled '100 din, 100 fareb' (100 days, 100 lies) to ridicule the government over its claims on crime control and making the state roads pot-hole free.

In a similar refrain, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati said the Adityanath government proved "zero" in controlling crime and could not be given "even a single mark" out of 100 on its 100 days' of governance.

"The Uttar Pradesh government has grossly failed on the law and order front, and incidents of theft, dacoity, loot, murder, extortion, crime against women and communal violence have reached its peak in the last 100 days," she said in a statement here.

Mayawati said the BJP government has not fulfilled even 10 per cent of the promises it made during the campaign.

"This government could not muster courage to bring out a white paper," she said, adding the Adityanath government was "befooling" the people of the state "just as" the Modi government was doing at the Centre.

Samajwadi Party chief spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhury said the government has "nothing" to showcase. He said the state was under the grip of "an undeclared Emergency" ever since BJP came to power.

The CPI termed the 100 days of the Adityanath government as "asafaltaa ke 100 din" (100 days of failure).

"In these 100 days, the Uttar Pradesh government instead of moving a step forward, has in fact moved 100 steps backward," CPI state secretary Girish said.

Though, it was billed as a press conference at the Lok Bhawan, opposite the state legislature complex, the 45-year- old saffron-clad CM took just one question from the media, perhaps to avoid queries on law and order and other challenges before his government.

Albeit, Adityanath sought the cooperation of newspersons in helping him run the government when a scribe asked him on the plight of small and medium newspapers.

When another journalist rose to ask a question, the chief minister, with folded hands, took leave of the media persons.

The BJP government, which assumed office after bagging 325 of the 403 Assembly seats along with its allies, faces major challenges, including arranging funds for the farm-loan waiver, on law and order issues, including communal clashes.

The loan waiver, a pre-poll promise of the BJP, has the finance department burning the proverbial midnight oil trying to offload the fiscal burden of nearly Rs 36,369 crore.

This, coupled with Rs 34,000 crore for the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations, has put an additional burden of Rs 70,000 crore on the state's coffers.

Earlier, in his opening remarks, the UP Chief Minister said 2017 will be observed as 'Garib Kalyan Varsh'.

"UP is associated with Jan Sangh stalwart Deen Dayal Upadhyay. It has been his birth as well as work place. In the 100 days, the government has undertaken effective initiatives for fulfilling the aims and objectives of Antodaya (benefits reach the last strata of the society)," he said.

The CM also said the UP government is following PM's call of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas (development for all, together with all)' in letter and spirit.

Noting the state's is an agriculture-based economy, he said his government is giving priority to farmers issues.

The chief minister said dues of over Rs 22,517 crore were paid to sugarcane growers in the state after his government came to power. Aditynanath also drew attention to e-tendering, which has resulted in increase in revenue from mining.

"In order to disseminate information about the state and spread awareness about UP, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to celebrate Uttar Pradesh Diwas on January 24," he added.