‘PDA Means Paraya Dhan Apna’: BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde Takes First Swipe At Akhilesh Yadav After Taking Charge As State In-Charge - VIDEO

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections are still around five to six months away, but the political atmosphere has already begun to heat up, with both the BJP and opposition parties stepping up their attacks ahead of the high-stakes battle.

Against this backdrop, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Vinod Tawde arrived in Lucknow on Saturday for his first visit to Uttar Pradesh since being appointed the party’s state in-charge. He wasted no time in taking aim at Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, targeting the party’s much-publicised “PDA” formula.

Taking a sarcastic swipe at the acronym, Tawde gave “PDA” a new meaning: “Paraya Dhan Apna”, or “someone else’s wealth is our own”. He alleged that the SP’s politics involved claiming or appropriating what belonged to others, adding that slogans built around the SP’s PDA formulation would be countered by the BJP.

PDA is an acronym coined by Yadav, referring to Pichhda (backward classes), Dalit and Alpsankhyak (minorities).

Tawde was named the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh in-charge in August as part of a major organisational overhaul under the leadership of party president Nitin Nabin.

He has previously been involved in election management in states such as Bihar, and his organisational experience is expected to be put to use in assessing the BJP’s booth-level machinery and strengthening coordination between the party organisation and the state government.

His two-day visit is also aimed at taking stock of the party’s organisational preparedness ahead of the upcoming electoral battle. Tawde is scheduled to meet Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, as well as senior BJP leaders and RSS functionaries. These meetings are expected to help him assess the ground-level organisation and chalk out the party’s strategy for the state.