Prayagraj: Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Sunday stepped up his attack on the Samajwadi Party, claiming that the party would lose in the upcoming Legislative Council elections as well as the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls and would subsequently blame EVMs and the govt machinery for its defeat.Maurya said the people of UP would not allow the return of what he described as the SP’s “gundagardi and anarchy”.Reacting to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s recent remark that the BJP’s “pot of sins” was filling up, Maurya said the SP leader could continue making such statements, but the election results would give a clear answer.He claimed that the BJP would retain power not only after the 2027 assembly polls but would remain in govt till 2047 while working towards building a developed India and a developed Uttar Pradesh.“SP leaders will keep making statements, but after the results, they will start alleging that EVMs were faulty and that the BJP misused the govt and administrative machinery,” he said.The deputy CM also criticised attempts to politicise the Kolkata stampede, calling the tragedy unfortunate. He said the entire country stood with those affected by the tragedy and that political parties should stand with victims and their families during such a difficult time.“If someone is doing politics over such an unfortunate incident, it is low-level conduct,” Maurya said, accusing the opposition of indulging in “dirty politics”.Asked about opposition allegations over posters in Lucknow depicting mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed as Ravana, Maurya said the BJP had no need to put up posters of a mafia figure. “The BJP does not need to get a poster of someone like Atiq Ahmed installed. He is no more,” he said.Maurya reached Prayagraj Circuit House around 1.30pm and left shortly afterwards for a voter conference at a heritage resort in Andawa, Jhunsi, linked to the upcoming MLC election.Later in the evening, he was scheduled to interact with BJP office-bearers, workers and elected representatives at the Circuit House. A meeting with departmental officials was also scheduled before his departure for Lucknow by state aircraft from Prayagraj at around 7.45pm.
