Visiting the village on the pretext of inspecting the government’s Covid preparations at Saifai University’s 200 bed L3 Covid Hospital and the neigh bouring Giza village in Saifai block was a considered move. Saifai village is part of Mainpuri, Mulayam’s parliamentary constituency, and also a part of the Jaswant Nagar assembly constituency which is represented by his brother and SP rebel leader Shivpal Singh Yadav. So, in a way, Saifai is a focal point of SP politics in Etawah and many adjoin ing districts. The BJP, which won the Etawah parliamentary constituency in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, did quite poorly in the panchayat elections held in April. The ruling party could win only one of the 24 district panchayat member seats in Etawah. The SP and Shivpal Yadav’s Progressive Samajwadi Party (Lohia) contested the local election together and won 20 of the 24 seats in Etawah.
The panchayat election results, naturally, set off alarm bells in the BJP. Yogi had come to Etawah twice in the last four years, but he had consciously avoided visiting Saifai. This visit, then, was an attempt to retrieve lost ground after the loss in the panchayat elections. Yogi ordered the completion of work on the oxygen plant at Saifai University in two weeks, and told officials to trace Covid victims in the region and provide them immediate treatment through the monitoring committees in the villages. Some 89,512 villages in UP now have active monitoring commit tees. Due to their efforts, Covid patients have been detected in 28,742 villages. Government statistics suggest that a third of UP’s villages have been affected by the Covid virus.
This story is from the June 14, 2021 edition of India Today.
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This story is from the June 14, 2021 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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