As the next Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh draw closer, the electoral rivalry between UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav appears to be turning personal with both leaders making personal comments on each other.
The latest in the list of personal attacks on Akhilesh by Adityanath was the latter's reference to a picture that showed a bottle protruding out of Akhilesh's pocket while he was inspecting the Jai Prakash Narayan International Centre a few days back.
"The babua of SP has been roaming around with a bottle in his pocket. He is trying to perform some new trick by carrying a Swedish bottle," Adityanath had said while addressing a public meeting.
"12 baje uthten hai aur jeb mein bottle lekar ghoomte hain" (he wakes up at 12 in the noon and roams around with a bottle in his pocket), Adityanath had said.
The SP president later clarified that the glass bottle had warm water.
Akhilesh had earlier used the term 'chilamjeevi' (people smoking tobacco from pipe) while addressing a public meeting at Ghazipur a few days back. "I can see many colours in the rally but people wearing cloths of a particular colour who are chilamjeevi can not see them," the SP president had said.
Akhilesh's remarks drew sharp reactions from the seers as well as the BJP leaders, who even called him 'aulad' of 'Maualana Mulayam'. It turned into an all out personal war between Akhilesh and Adityanath later.
After being called 'parivarvadi' by Adityanath, the SP president hit back by saying that those who did not have families could not understand the pains and suffering of the people having families.
The UP CM also referred to SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav as Akhilesh's 'abbajaan'. Akhilesh sought to turn the tables on Adityanath by calling him 'Un-upYogi', when prime minister Narendra Modi called the UP CM as 'UP-Yogi'.
Watch latest videos by DH here: