Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said while the BJP openly proclaims of forming government in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party thinks of doing it on the strength of communal riots.

The Lucknow MP also lauded UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for “changing” the face of the state in the past five years through developmental work.

Lauding the law and order situation in the state, Singh said Uttar Pradesh witnessed not a single riot during the Adityanath government.

“We say our government will be formed on ‘danke ki chot pe’ but the Samajwadi Party says their government will be formed on ‘dangey ki chot pe’ (on the basis of riots),” said the Union minister, asserting that “no one can dare now to instigate riots in UP”.

Addressing an election meeting in Lucknow Cantt assembly constituency in favour of BJP candidate Brijesh Pathak, Singh said, “On the whole, our state is progressing at a fast pace and when I look at it, I say our chief minister has done a charismatic job.”

“The size of our economy which used to be of Rs 11 lakh crore earlier has increased to Rs 21 lakh crore within five years,” he added.

On the occasion, Singh also praised sitting BJP MLA Suresh Tiwari of Lucknow Cantt area who has been denied ticket this time and described him as a “good worker who has contributed to the party’s strength as MLA many times”.

“I can say about Suresh Tiwari that no one can raise a finger at him. He never had any stain of corruption on his forehead,” he said.

In the 2019 byelection, Suresh Tiwari was elected on a BJP ticket from the Cantt assembly constituency, which he had represented earlier as well.

Brajesh Pathak, who won the 2017 election from Lucknow Central constituency, was nominated this time by the party as Cantt candidate in Tiwari’s place.

Referring to this, Rajnath Singh said the BJP is a party in India where all political decisions taken by it are accepted by its workers.

“I am happy that Suresh Tiwari also accepted the decision and is standing with the BJP and Brajesh Pathak with full strength,” he said.

“This character of BJP workers is unmatched and not seen in any other political parties. I am saying this because if look at other parties, each party has been divided once, twice, four times in its life,” the Union minister said.

“But the BJP is the only national party in India which never had any such problem. We are workers of such a BJP. I want to give the credit for this to all our workers all over the country and not to any leader,” he said.

Many prominent leaders including Union Minister Ramdas Athawale also addressed the public meeting.