Those who exploited Rampur paying price for it: Adityanath

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a veiled attack on senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan on Sunday said those who “exploited” Rampur for their own interests are now bearing consequences of it.
Rampur is considered a bastion of the Samajwadi Party and its leader Azam Khan carries a lot of clout here. Addressing a gathering after inaugurating and laying foundation of 22 projects and schemes, Adityanath claimed that by electing BJP candidate Ghanshyam Lodhi in the recent Lok Sabha bypolls, people of Rampur “stood with development, security and prosperity, and heralded the beginning of a new era”.
Without taking Khan’s name, he said those who “exploited Rampur for their own vested interests” are now “bearing consequences” of it.
Khan spent over two years in a state jail following the registration of multiple cases against him. Khan came out of jail a few months ago after the Supreme Court granted him an interim bail in a cheating case. Adityanath alleged that development schemes in the past were made person-centric, serving as means of exploitation while keeping public interest at bay.
“The previous government used to make schemes for its own benefit. The money was of the government but no work was done by rising over vested interests. This was the reason the Rajkiya Murtuza Inter College (in Rampur) had become the office of a particular party,” he alleged.
Adityanath said earlier work was done to change the 200-year-old Madrsa Aliya here into a private institution.
“Attempts were made to seize the rare manuscripts stored there without any permission. The (BJP) government worked to protect those manuscripts and nobody could be allowed to play with such things,” he said.
The chief minister claimed that earlier attempts were made to “grab” Rampur’s City Montessori School where Mahatma Gandhi had stayed during the freedom struggle.
“Not only this, various schemes and projects that could have been important for Rampur were obstructed and there was a conspiracy for the past 10-12 years to deprive Rampur of development and prosperity,” he claimed.
Adityanath on this occasion said UP will remain a riot-free state and that there is no place for crime, criminals and corrupt people.
Taking a jibe, he said, “Earlier, Rampuri knives had gone in wrong hands and became a means of exploitation. But, when this knife came in positive hands, the double-engine government of the BJP used it to provide safety to citizens and traders.”