Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s “do namoone” jibe, apparently aimed at opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, has drawn a sharp response from Yadav, who has twisted the Chief Minister’s post to suggest that an alleged power tussle within the BJP is out in the open.
In a video that has now gone viral, Adityanath is seen speaking in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. The opposition had tried to corner the state government over the alleged smuggling of Codeine cough syrup in Uttar Pradesh and said that timely action could have saved hundreds of children.
The Chief Minister trashed the charge and said not a single child died in Uttar Pradesh due to the consumption of the cough syrup. Without naming anyone, he tells the members of main opposition Samajwadi Party, “There are two namoones (specimens), one is in Delhi, and the other in Lucknow. Whenever a discussion takes place in the country, he flees abroad. I think the same is happening with your babua. He would travel to England and you will keep shouting here.”
While Adityanath did not name anyone, the remark was seen as a jab at Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, and Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief, a Lok Sabha MP and Uttar Pradesh’s former Chief Minister. Earlier, Adityanath mocked Gandhi, Yadav and RJD’s Tejashwi Prasad Yadav as “three monkeys” and called them “Pappu”, “Tappu” and “Appu”.
Addressing a rally in the run-up to the Bihar polls, he said, “Just as Mahatma Gandhi had three monkeys, today the INDIA alliance brought in three monkeys in the name of Pappu, Tappu, and Appu (Rahul Gandhi, Tejashwi Yadav, and Akhilesh Yadav). Pappu cannot speak the truth or say anything good. Tappu cannot see any truth, and Appu cannot hear the truth,” he said.
Yadav has now responded to Adityanath’s “do namoone” remark on X and called it a “confession”. “No one thought that the Delhi-Lucknow clash would reach this point. Those on constitutional posts should not cross the line of decorum. The BJP should not bring its infighting into the open,” the Kannauj MP said. Interestingly, Yadav shared the post minutes after Adityanath posted a video of his remarks on X.
The Samajwadi Party has repeatedly claimed a power tussle between the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh and the BJP leadership at the Centre.
Those claiming a power struggle between the BJP central leadership and Yogi Adityanath have pointed to the appointment of Deputy Chief Ministers and specific bureaucrats, arguing that these are aimed at limiting the Chief Minister’s powers. Adityanath has trashed such claims and said he is in the top post because of the party.
