So who is responsible for Lucknow Metro Rail? A day before the commercial run of the Metro is inaugurated, a race has begun between the Yogi Adityanath government and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav to prove precisely that: ownership. Claiming credit for the project, the Samajwadi Party has said that Chief Minister Adityanath will inaugurate a project that has already been flagged off by former CM Akhilesh Yadav. The CM’s office on Sunday night posted a 2.27-minute video on its official Twitter handle, in which Adityanath is seen saying, “Varshon ki aapki tamanna puri hui hai. Yeh Metro aapki hai. Aapke liye pradesh sarkar aur kendra sarkar ki oar se ek tohfa hai (Your wish has finally come true. This Metro is yours — this is a gift for your from the Central and state governments).” Adityanath made the remark while appealing to people of Lucknow for cleanliness, safety and maintenance of the Metro. In the video, he is also seen saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been in favour of a congestion-free, cheaper and eco-friendly public transport system. On Tuesday, Adityanath and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh are scheduled to inaugurate the commercial run of the Metro on a 8.5-km priority corridor from Charbagh to Transport Nagar. “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 Adityanath’s office tweeted the video, Akhilesh had already posted his photographs on his personal Twitter handle with team members and officials of Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation. The photos were clicked when Akhilesh was the chief minister. “Lucknow Metro will make life easy and will recall the memories about Sreedharanji and the team that made the dream come true,” Akhilesh tweeted. SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary on Monday told The Indian Express that the BJP government should tell people that Lucknow Metro project was started by the previous regime and Akhilesh had already handed over the keys to drivers for the trial run. State BJP spokesperson Chandra Mohan said, “Akhilesh Yadav inaugurated incomplete metro rail project in a hurry to take credit. But people will start travelling in the Metro under a BJP government.”
