Lucknow:

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of telling lies to the state assembly and objected to his using the word “dalal”, meaning middle man, on the floor of the House.

Mr Yadav made the allegation referring to the chief minister’s statement in the assembly on Friday in which he had said only “brokers” betraying farmers were unhappy with the farm laws. The CM remarks had prompted the Opposition to walk out of the House.

Accusing the chief minister of speaking lies in the assembly, Mr Yadav also doubted if any farmer’s paddy crop was procured on the minimum support price in Uttar Pradesh and sought details of the crops procured on the MSP.

“He (the CM) said middlemen are not able to digest farmers’ well- being. Such deception! Such a lie! Can anyone speak such lies in the House?” asked Mr Yadav.

Refuting to official claims over the procurement of crops on MSP, Mr Yadav said, “I want to know from him if farmers from any of the districts, including, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Deoria, Sant Kabir Nagar, Basti, Gonda and Faizabad, are getting the MSP. Which district has got it?”

“We want to know how many farmers have got how much of the MSP,” the former chief minister demanded to know.

Objecting to the alleged use of the word “dalal”, Mr Yadav declared Yogi Adityanath an outsider for Uttar Pradesh and said, “Can anyone imagine that the person whom the people of UP accepted as their chief minister is not of UP,” said Yadav.

“He should thank the people of UP who accepted him but see his language,” Mr Yadav said.

“As far as the language of our chief minister is concerned, I would say he speaks less on development. If he speaks on development, it will be more beneficial for the state,” said the SP chief.

During his press conference, Mr Yadav also sought to give credit to his government for starting road building and sugar mills in the state.