Akhilesh claimed the allegations against Mohan Yadav were aimed at paving the way for leadership changes in BJP-ruled states (File photo)

NEW DELHI: SP chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the controversy surrounding allegations of large-scale land purchases linked to Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav’s family is part of a wider Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strategy to replace several of its chief ministers, including Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Akhilesh claimed the allegations against Mohan Yadav were aimed at paving the way for leadership changes in BJP-ruled states.“The BJP has hatched a conspiracy to defame Mohan Yadav. If these allegations are against Mohan Yadav, then the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh has acquired 300-600 acres of land. This is nothing new. He used to work in real estate earlier. Does the BJP not know this? These allegations are being made because the BJP is looking for a way to change three Chief Ministers. They want to change the Chief Ministers, hence making allegations,” Akhilesh said.He further claimed, “They want to remove the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. They are removing these two because they want to remove the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. This is a conspiracy to remove them.”Referring to the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Akhilesh said the Samajwadi Party would return to power and that the current chief minister would be “automatically removed”.

Land controversy sparks political battle

Akhilesh’s remarks came amid a political storm over allegations that Mohan Yadav and his family acquired large tracts of land after he became chief minister in December 2023.Citing a report by a national daily, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari sought a probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge and questioned how the chief minister’s family’s land holdings allegedly increased from 100 acres to 335 acres after he took office. Patwari claimed that Yadav and his family purchased at least 137 plots covering 168 acres, valued at around Rs 45 crore, largely in areas linked to planned infrastructure projects and land-use changes.“The media reports that have surfaced are extremely worrying. The chief minister is not just an individual; he represents the entire state. Therefore, if such serious allegations are made against him, it will be a grave matter. The dignity of the state is hurt,” Patwari told PTI Videos.

BJP rejects charges, Rajbhar targets Akhilesh

The BJP has strongly rejected the allegations. Madhya Pradesh BJP president Hemant Khandelwal described them as “completely baseless” and accused Congress of targeting leaders from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community.He maintained that land declared in Mohan Yadav’s 2023 election affidavit remains unchanged and argued that all properties cited by the opposition existed before the implementation of the Ujjain master plan.Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbhar hit back at Akhilesh, accusing him of trying to divert attention from alleged links between Samajwadi Party leaders and land investments in Madhya Pradesh. In a lengthy post on X, Rajbhar alleged that an IAS officer connected to senior SP figures had facilitated investments in land along proposed highway corridors and called for an investigation into what he described as “white-collar investments” linked to the party.