Akhilesh flays UP govt over film city, calls it ‘SP project’

Last Friday, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had announced his plan to set up “the biggest and the most beautiful film city of the country” in Noida

Samajwadi Party’s (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh (UP) was all set to take credit for the proposed film city project that was envisaged during his party’s rule.

Yadav made the comment hours before UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath was scheduled to meet nearly three dozen film personalities, including actors, director and singers, in Lucknow to discuss the ambitious project.

“Now, the BJP government is ready to cut the ribbon to take credit for the SP regime’s film city. But neither acting of any BJP actors nor any of their dialogues are turning out to be useful. The BJP movie has turned out to be a flop show. The film will soon be off-screen because those who made the real picture have been booked in advance,” he tweeted in Hindi.

The SP leader hinted in his tweet that his party would come back to power and the ruling BJP would be dislodged in the 2022 assembly polls.

Last Friday, the CM had announced his plan to set up “the biggest and the most beautiful film city of the country” in Noida.

During a meeting to review development works in the Meerut division on Friday night, he had asked state government officials to find a suitable plot of land in or around Noida for setting up the film city.

On Saturday, actor-director Kangana Ranaut and singer Anup Jalota had praised the CM for the announcement.

Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar called on the CM at his official residence in Lucknow the following day to discuss the project.

On Tuesday, many personalities related to the film and entertainment industry, including Kailash Kher, Udit Narayan, Anup Jalota and Nitin Desai, are slated to reach the CM’s residence to participate in the meeting.

Anupam Kher, Bhushan Kumar, Vivek Agnihotri, Ravina Tandon, Priyadarshan, Murad Ali Khan, Manoj Muntazir are among the 24 film personalities, who are scheduled to attend the meeting via a video-conference.