Lucknow, Sep 5 (PTI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav engaged in a Twitter war to claim credit for Lucknow Metro, the maiden run of which was flagged off on Tuesday.
The Samajwadi Party said Adityanath inaugurated a project that Yadav had already flagged off.
The chief minister’s office posted a 2.27-minute video on its official Twitter handle, in which Adityanath is seen saying, "Your wish has finally come true. This metro is yours this is a gift for your from the central and state governments."
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been in favour of a congestion-free, cheaper and eco-friendly public transport system," he said in the video message.
Adityanath and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh flagged off the metro's maiden run on a 8.5-km priority corridor from Transport Nagar to Charbagh in the first phase. It will be thrown open to the public tomorrow.
"We have set a target of March 2019 to complete the second phase of the project," Adityanath said in the video.
About an hour before the chief minister's office tweeted the video, Akhilesh posted his photographs on his Twitter handle with team members and officials of Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation.
The photos were clicked when Akhilesh was the chief minister and were published as full-page advertisements in leading newspapers here.
Akhilesh posted a series of tweets to claim credit for the metro services.
"Lucknow Metro will make life easy and people will remember Sreedharanji and his team that made the dream come true," he tweeted.
"Engine toh pehle hi chal dia tha, dibbey to peechey aanee hi thee (The engine had already started running, bogies had to follow)," he tweeted with pictures of metro inauguration to convey that the major part of the project had been completed during his stint as the chief minister.
"Before sitting in the metro started by the Samajwadis, the government should take care of 5,000 stray cattle on the roads," he said in another tweet.
Akhilesh, who is now the SP chief, and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav had flagged off the trial run on the same stretch in December last year, just ahead of the assembly elections, to showcase it as a signature project of their government.
The BJP had then attacked the Akhilesh government during the assembly election campaign, asking why metro trains were not running in Lucknow even after the inauguration.
As the matter got embroiled in politics, Akhilesh had shot back saying it was due to the delay in obtaining clearance from the commissioner, Metro Railway Safety, and had blamed the Centre for it.
SP leader and MLC Rajpal Kashyap said the BJP government should tell people that the Lucknow Metro project was started by the Akhilesh dispensation.
However, state BJP spokesperson Shalabh Mani Tripathi said, "Akhilesh Yadav inaugurated an incomplete metro rail project in a hurry to take credit (during the Assembly elections). Why did he not mention that funds came from the Centre. People will now travel in the metro under BJP government.