Akhilesh Yadav to visit Ahmedabad as Gujarat administration removes posters

LUCKNOW: Fresh confrontation seems to be brewing between the Samajwadi Party-ruled UP and the BJP administration in Gujarat, with UP CM Akhilesh Yadav saying he will personally go to Ahmedabad after the local administration removed some of the posters put up by the state inviting investors to come to UP.

"All we did was publicise our achievements and state's strength for doing business and tourism. There would be a large number of visitors and investors coming (for Vibrant Gujarat and Pravasi Bhartiya Divas), so we decided to publicise UP. Many people do not know that UP is number one in terms of milk production. We are building the country's largest expressway, metro train in several cities etc, but have not been able to publicise these achievements. But our effort was scuttled. Although there is very little time left, I am considering visiting Ahmedabad in the coming days," Akhilesh Yadav told ET.
Ahmedabad is hosting back-to-back events of Pravasi Bhartiya Divas from January 7 to 9 and Vibrant Gujarat from January 11 to 13. Sources in the UP CM's office said Yadav may go to Ahmedabad on January 9 to help publicise UP's strengths before the august gathering in the Gujarat capital. The UP government had put nearly 100 big and small hoardings in Ahmedabad in the run up to the two events in the city. The Ahmedabad administration removed several of these hoardings on December 31, which had the SP crying foul.

Gujarat SP secretary Kiran Kansara said: "These hoardings were booked through authorised agencies till January 15, but the BJP government in the state removed it out of ill will." SP spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhry said: "This removal of hoardings was done out of conspiracy by the BJP government."