Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday wondered why the name of Samajwadi Party (SP) gets entangled with “every” incident of crime in the state.

Speaking in the Assembly on the state budget, he took the opportunity to flay the opposition party, a day after allegations were levelled that the accused in a shootout in Hathras was an SP worker, who was out on bail.

“Why is it so that the SP’s name gets dragged into every incident of crime? Why?” the chief minister asked.

He said the “samajwadi” (socialism) movement has become impractical, but its leaders are not ready to accept the truth.

Adityanath’s remarks came against the backdrop of a 50-year-old man allegedly being shot dead in Hathras on Monday by Gaurav Sharma, an accused out on bail in a molestation case lodged in 2018. Sharma was accused of molesting the victim’s daughter.

Taking note of the incident, Adityanath on Tuesday ordered strict action against the accused and directed officials to invoke provisions of the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against them.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, in a tweet on Tuesday, alleged that women in Uttar Pradesh have lost the hope of justice from the state government and tagged a video of a girl.

The state BJP then alleged that the main accused in the Hathras incident is SP worker Gaurav Sharma, who runs his social media pages with the name Gaurav Songra.

SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary, however, rejected the charge, saying, “Gaurav is not a leader of the Samajwadi Party but that of the BJP. There are photographs of Gaurav with BJP leaders to prove this.”