Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has ordered round-the-clock power supply to Muslim-dominated districts across the state during the forthcoming month of Ramzan.

The state power minister confirmed having issued orders to all divisions in this regard.“Orders have been issued to all divisional heads of the department to spruce up transmission and fine-tune the distribution in order to avert disruption in supply during the holy month,” said a senior power official.

The minister claimed there was no dearth of electricity in the state; it was just a question of supply, especially during the morning hours at the time of namaz and sehri (morning meal before starting the fast). He asserted that the state government was working in accordance to its motto, ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’, without any discrimination on religious or caste lines.

However, the move has come as a surprise because Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the Assembly poll campaign, had accused the then Samajwadi Party government of appeasing the minority community by giving longer hours of power supply on Eid than Diwali.

Political experts believe the initiative has come with the Kairana and Noorpur bypolls in mind and also to neutralise the accusation of ensuring 24x7 power supply to important religious places of Hindus like Ayodhya and Mathura. The May 28 bypolls to the two Muslim-dominated seats will be another litmus test for the BJP ahead of 2019, especially after losing its bastions Gorakhpur and Phulpur.