A BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh has been videographed telling a gathering of village panchayat chiefs that elections are won through trickery, not development work.
“Vikas se koi vote-wote nahin milte. Hamne bahut vikas karya dekhe hain. Jiske gaon me sadaken banwa di, unke bachche vote nahin karte. Hum practical baat bata rahe hain. Chunav tikram se jeeta jata hai. Chunav vikas se nahin jeeta jata hai,” Shyam Prakash, the BJP MLA from Gopamau constituency in Hardoi district, is heard saying in the video clip that has surfaced on social media.
A translation: “We don’t get votes by doing development work. I have seen much development work. The children (new voters) of those for whom we build roads in villages don’t vote for us. I am telling you a practical thing. Elections are won by trickery, not through development.”
Some people seated on the dais behind the MLA are seen clapping.
Prakash confirmed to reporters that the video was recorded while he was addressing the village panchayat chiefs of his area in a hall in Hardoi on Saturday. “But it is not the full video,” he said.
A source said the MLA was responding to the concern of two panchayat chiefs that they were finding it difficult to convince people to support the BJP in future elections as
the government had not done any development work in their villages.