A DAY after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath targeted the Samajwadi Party (SP) over its alleged links with the real estate developer Ansal Group, after which an FIR was registered against M/s Ansal Properties & Infrastructure Ltd and its promoters, SP president Akhilesh Yadav Wednesday said, “If everything was wrong, why did you go there for the inauguration instead of sending a bulldozer?”
During a discussion on the Budget in the state Assembly on Tuesday, Adityanath said that all its assets would be seized if Ansal Group had defrauded even a single homebuyer. He emphasised that the culprits would be tracked down and would face strict punishment. The CM also accused the SP of shielding the Ansal Group and said the company was a product of the erstwhile SP government. He alleged that during the SP’s rule, Ansal’s illegal demands were met at the cost of investors and homebuyers, who were cheated. While claiming that the SP government had extended undue favors to Ansal, the CM Yogi highlighted that his government had curtailed these privileges and begun cornering the company.
Reacting to the issue, Akhilesh Yadav posted on X that to hide their failures, people often invoke someone else’s name, forgetting that they themselves inaugurated the mall and hospital in the city named after that very person. “They also hosted G20 guests at a newly built hotel in the same grand complex— the very place where billions of rupees in real investment have flowed,” he wrote.
Yadav also hit out at the BJP government in the state, saying that “levelling allegations at investors and discouraging them will neither promote investment nor benefit the state”. The discerning people of Uttar Pradesh are asking — if everything was wrong… Why did you arrive for the inauguration?
He also said on X that the public is saying if they are willing to dig deep, they should also examine the real reason their throne is shaking. The widespread talk of their possible ouster is fueling their frustration. The fear of displacement is echoing in their loud rhetoric.
On Tuesday evening, the Lucknow police registered an FIR against M/s Ansal Properties & Infrastructure Ltd and others including Pranav Ansal, Sushil Ansal, Sunil Kumar Gupta, Vinay Kumar Singh and Francette Patricia Atkinson.
They were booked for allegedly being involved in large scale “irregularities” in the development of a high-tech township project along the Lucknow-Sultanpur road. They are reportedly accused of conspiring to defraud the public and government by selling land illegally, misappropriating public property and engaging in organised crime. They are also accused of reportedly being engaged in misconduct, threatening authority personnel and failing to comply with directives by RERA and other agencies.