Prayagraj: Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Saturday questioned why Congress MP Rahul Gandhi was not visiting Jharkhand over alleged paper leak issues, while accusing him and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav of seeking a youth vote bank ahead of the 2027 UP assembly elections.Speaking to the media before leaving Prayagraj, Maurya said Rahul’s visit to the city was aimed at targeting the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi rather than addressing issues concerning students and youth. “Why is Rahul Gandhi not going to Jharkhand over the paper leak issue?” he asked, adding that the public has understood the opposition’s politics.Maurya claimed that neither Rahul nor Akhilesh is a well-wisher of students and youth and alleged that the two were looking for a vote bank among them. He said the “Rahul-Akhilesh duo” had faced defeats several times and was now “standing at the door of defeat” ahead of the 2027 polls.The deputy CM also targeted Akhilesh’s PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) politics, saying the Samajwadi Party’s claim of representing backward classes, Dalits and other sections was “fake”. Referring to the party’s 2012-17 government in UP, Maurya alleged that people from backward, Dalit and Brahmin communities had faced exploitation and that criminals and mafias had received political patronage during that period.He accused the SP of pursuing a “divide and rule” strategy through its PDA narrative and said development under the BJP’s “double-engine government” had benefited all sections.Maurya told party workers to remain vigilant about the Opposition and work without any laxity for the 2027 polls. He set a target of winning all 12 assembly seats in Prayagraj and claimed the BJP would return to power in UP for a third consecutive term, with greater public support than in 2017.After his interaction with workers, Maurya visited the Ashok Nagar residence of BJP Ganga Par president Nirmala Paswan before leaving for Bamrauli airport and departing for Lucknow.
