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News Desk: The Yogi Adityanath led BJP government of Uttar Pradesh, on Sunday, was slammed by the ruling TMC government of West Bengal and other Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh for using images of ‘Kolkata flyover’ as development of Uttar Pradesh in an ad titled ‘Transforming UP under Yogi Adityanath’.
TMC and other Opposition parties mocked BJP
The ruling TMC government of West Bengal mocked the saffron party over this act. The national general secretary of the party Abhishek Banerjee ridiculed the act and tweeted “Transforming UP for @myogiadityanath means stealing images from infrastructure seen in Bengal under @MamataOfficial’s leadership and using them as his own! Looks like the ‘DOUBLE ENGINE MODEL’ has MISERABLY FAILED in BJP’s strongest state and now stands EXPOSED for all!”
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleged that the saffron party is making false claims of development by putting fake pictures of flyovers and factories. She tweeted “There is no understanding of the issues of the public nor there is any link with it. The government is only about making false advertisements and castles in the air”.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that till now the BJP government was falsely publicising the works of the SP government as its own. He tweeted “The BJP must open an ‘International Institute of False Publicity”.
Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh tweeted “Have never seen nor heard such development. The Kolkata flyover has been dragged to Lucknow by our Chief Minister Adityanath jee….”.
How the Bharatiya Janata Party reacted?
Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi in his tweet made it clear “The newspaper @IndianExpress has itself accepted that there has been a mistake on the part of the newspaper’s marketing department, due to which the advertisement got published. However, we are not experts in advertising as the #AAP is”.
West Bengal BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu hits back at the ruling TMC over this. He said “Yes. The image is of Maa Flyover. TMC government don’t have any other infrastructural development to flaunt”
“Several expressways have been built under the Adityanath government in UP. In comparison, West Bengal has witnessed several flyovers collapsing in the last few years. It was nothing but a mistake and it does not take away Yogi Adityanath’s credit for accelerating UP’s growth” he added.
Indian Express’ tweet in connection with the advertisement
It was Indian Express who advertised it. The message in the advertisement read “Before 2017, UP was not taken seriously with regard to investment, but in his four-and-a-half years rule, that negative perception has been broken and in 2020, it has emerged as the second-largest economy in the country”
They issued a corrigendum saying “A wrong image was inadvertently included in the cover collage of the advertorial on Uttar Pradesh produced by the marketing department of the newspaper. The error is deeply regretted and the image has been removed in all digital editions of the paper” in it’s tweet.
Reacting to this corrigendum of the Indian Express, TMC MP and national spokesperson Derek O’Brien said “The UP government has to be responsible, there is no passing the buck. The newspaper was put under pressure to release a statement taking the blame for the goof up”
“I have been been with an advertising agency for several years and can vouch that the client has to approve any advertisement before being released in the media. This is a blunder. The only positive part of it is that they are acknowledging the great work done by the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal. Imitation is the best form of flattery” he added.
He further said “TMC and Mamata Banerjee are the only serious challengers to the BJP in national politics and people believe that Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah can be defeated in the 2024 Lok Sabha election under her leadership”
“Yogi Adityanath addressed 11 rallies in West Bengal during the assembly elections in the state. His claims of benefits of a double engine government have been proved to be hollow and false” he added.
TMC looking towards an alliance with Samajwadi Party
To strengthen the party, the ruling TMC government of West Bengal is looking towards an alliance with the Samajwadi Party of Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections next year. Final decision on the alliance will be announced next week.
TMC state president Neeraj Rai said
“We will tell the people about the policies implemented by us in West Bengal and will seek public feedback on the welfare policies of the state government. We will prepare the manifesto of the Trinamool Congress based on the expectations of the people.
TMC is now focusing on building a strong organisational structure and cadre base in Uttar Pradesh.
The party has added 100 committed members in more than 30 districts through the membership drive launched in May. The party leadership wants a strong unit in UP with a committed workforce ahead of the 2024 General Elections. Wherever we go, people want to know how we defeated the BJP in West Bengal”
A source in the Samajwadi Party said “The alliance with TMC could materialise since Akhilesh ji shares a warm rapport with Mamata ji”
A Samajwadi Party spokesperson said “She is now an opposition mascot who crushed communal forces in her state against all odds. Her campaign in UP will certainly boost the opposition in general”
