Akhilesh promises 300 units of free power to households

Marking the start of the New Year, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday promised to provide 300 units of free electricity to households and free power to farmers for irrigation if voted to power in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

“It will be the number one promise on the Samajwadi Party manifesto,” Akhilesh said at a public meeting at the party office in Lucknow.

The promises appear similar to the ones made by the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Goa, Punjab, and Uttarakhand, the states which are headed to the polls along with UP.

Addressing a meeting at the party office in Lucknow on Saturday, Akhilesh Yadav said that the BJP government made efforts to ruin 2021. He attacked the BJP government over tax raids in Kannauj and Kanpur.

“I came to the conclusion that it was a snag in Digital India. Accidently, the raid revealed tonnes of cash at the house of a person who is a BJP person. And all the money that came out is not of the SP, but it might be of the BJP only,” he said.

“Anyway, forget 2021. Let’s take a New Year resolution. On coming to power, the SP government will give domestic consumers free electricity up to 300 units. Farmers will get free electricity to irrigate their fields. This will be our top promise,” the former UP chief minister said.

“This will be the first promise in the SP manifesto. And everyone knows that what SP promises, it delivers,” he said.

He also asked the party’s booth level workers to resolve that they will make SP win at their respective booths.

Last week, during his Vijay Rath Yatra in Unnao, Akhilesh had promised ₹5 lakh compensation to a cyclist in a road accident and ₹5 lakh for death in bull attack.