Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday, 12 July 2026, launched a sharp attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, alleging large-scale corruption in expressway projects in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, after reports emerged that the Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway — built at a cost of ₹4,700 crore — developed structural faults before its inauguration, and a ₹6,700 crore 'Missing Link' project in Maharashtra also ran into serious trouble.

Context

Posting on X, Yadav wrote: 'एक्सप्रेसवे इसलिए बनते हैं कि लोग तेज़ी से बेफ़िक्र होकर चलें, इसलिए नहीं कि लोग रस्ते भर ऊपरवाले का नाम जपें' — 'Expressways are built so people can travel fast and worry-free, not so that they spend the journey praying to God.' The remark was a pointed jibe at the safety record of infrastructure projects under BJP governments in both states.

Yadav alleged that the Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway, built at ₹4,700 crore, sank before it could even be inaugurated, while Maharashtra's so-called 'Missing Link' project, costing ₹6,700 crore, had become what he described as a 'connecting link' between the BJP government and corrupt contractors — earning notoriety worldwide.

Policy Backdrop

Expressway construction has been a flagship political statement for successive governments in Uttar Pradesh. The Agra-Lucknow Expressway, conceptualised during Akhilesh Yadav's own tenure as Chief Minister, was completed and inaugurated in 2017 under the subsequent BJP administration. The BJP government later added projects including the Purvanchal Expressway, inaugurated in 2021, as part of a broader push to expand the state's expressway network.

In Maharashtra, BJP-led coalition governments have similarly promoted large highway and urban connectivity projects as development benchmarks, making any reported quality failures politically sensitive for the ruling alliance.

Stakeholders and Impact

The projects in question directly affect commuters and taxpayers in both states. Yadav questioned whether the infrastructure was designed for public convenience or to generate profit for 'BJP-aligned contractors,' asking: 'जनता पूछ रही है कि ये जनता की सुविधा के लिए डिज़ाइन किया गया है या भाजपाई ठेकेदारों को मुनाफ़ा कमवाने के लिए?' — 'The public is asking whether this was designed for the people's convenience or to earn profits for BJP contractors.'

He further noted the irony that a journey meant to save time could end up costing more time at the expressway entry point itself, stating that a traveller would 'think forty times before setting out on a forty-minute journey' if safety could not be guaranteed. His closing line — 'गति यदि सुरक्षित नहीं है तो उसका कोई अर्थ नहीं है' — 'Speed that is not safe has no meaning' — underscored the safety dimension of his critique.

Yadav also raised a pointed rhetorical question about whether both projects were designed by people based in Lucknow, implying a common thread of political patronage linking the two failures across state lines.

What's Next

The allegations are likely to intensify calls for independent technical audits of both the Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway and the Maharashtra Missing Link project by the respective state public-works departments. Parliamentary questions on expressway construction standards and maintenance protocols could follow when the legislature is next in session.

With assembly and parliamentary cycles keeping infrastructure accountability in sharp focus, the BJP governments in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra will be under pressure to provide official explanations for the reported structural deficiencies — and to demonstrate that public funds of the scale involved have been deployed with due diligence.