Ghaziabad: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Friday that UP’s image has changed during his nine and a half years at the helm. “Earlier the state was known for ‘one district, one mafia’ but now it is known as ‘one district, one product’ and ‘one district, one cuisine’,” he said.Yogi was addressing a public gathering at Sunderdeep College in Dasna to seek support for the party’s candidates in the MLC election (graduate and teacher), scheduled for Oct 23. He asked voters to back Dinesh Kumar Goyal and Chand Sharma. The poll is being seen as a precursor to the assembly election due next year.Attacking Samajwadi Party (SP), he likened its promises on education to a crocodile offering to ferry someone across a river. “SP’s lofty words on education are like a crocodile asking one to sit on its back so that it can make them cross the river — Ye naiya dubo deinge (will sink the boat).”“Their policies have been anti-educational and they are known to play with the future of youths and students. They cannot be trusted. We created a conducive environment in the state which opened up new avenues for education and employment. Today in almost every district there is a medical college,” he added.Listing his govt’s record on employment, Yogi said: “From 120 start-ups earlier, we have now 24,000 start-ups in the state and we have reached a position where we have emerged as job givers.”“The double-engine govt distributed appointment letters to 9.5 lakh youths in nine and a half years. We will also recruit one lakh more candidates in the next six months. Results for 32,000 UP Police posts have been declared, and 42,000 home guards will soon receive appointment letters,” he said.He also targeted the PDA (Pichda, Dalit, Alpyasankhyak) alliance led by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, without naming Ram Gopal Yadav, who was fielded by Akhilesh. “While PDA earlier meant Parivar Development Authority, now it also means ‘Paraya Dhan Apna’,” he said.Yogi was scheduled to inspect the Tertiary Sewage Treatment Plant in Indirapuram, built with funds from a green bond raised by Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC). He skipped the visit following a last-minute change in his programme.
