Uttar Pradesh, you can breathe easy now. The two wolves on the loose have been identified by chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Or can you? These are not the four-legged canines that have been feeding on the hapless poor, often children, who do not even have the protection of a door, and have kept residents across stretches of the state awake through the night for fear of being attacked.

At the centre of Adityanath’s animal allegory are two political rivals of the BJP whom the chief minister on Wednesday blamed for joblessness in the state.

Speaking at an event in Lucknow where he handed out government job appointment letters to 1,334 youths, Adityanath said, referring to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Yadav: “People didn’t get any appointment letters before 2017. This was because the uncle and the nephew used to race against each other to extort money — who would collect how much. Their areas were divided.”

“I am seeing these days that some man-eater wolves are creating trouble in different districts of the state. More or less the same was the condition of the state before 2017. It was no secret how much havoc they (leaders of the then ruling SP) had created at that time. Their areas were also divided for extortion.”

The irony was not lost on many that Adityanath’s tenure as chief minister has witnessed multiple question paper leaks and allegations of mass cheating that have affected the prospects of innumerable youths in competitive exams.

Earlier in the morning, the government deployed trained hunters in Hardi and Mahasi areas of Bahraich to kill or catch the two wolves that have eluded foresters for months now. A pack of six wolves is believed to have killed at least 10 people and injured over 50 since March. Last week, foresters caught and caged four of the wolves but the remaining animals have continued to leave a trail of blood. To add to the woes of people of the state, which the BJP claims has been put on the path of unprecedented development under the stewardship of Adityanath, jackals have joined the wolves in the prey fest.

At Wednesday’s event, Adityanath also drew attention to the dispute in Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family in 2016-17 when his younger brother Shivpal and son Akhilesh, who was then the chief minister, were locked in a tussle over the party’s top post.

Akhilesh had eventually dethroned his father from the post of national president of the SP and suspended Shivpal from the party.

“All the characters of the Mahabharat were present in the dispute. Rather, this was the second Mahabharat. Sisters and brothers, I would suggest to you not to listen to them when they make promises. They had got an opportunity (to rule the state between 2012 and 2017). They failed to perform and misused their chance, they plundered the state. Whatever promise they make to you today shouldn’t be trusted ever…. The people have seen their goondaism, their anarchy…. They were on a looting spree in the state before 2017,” Adityanath said.

The chief minister appeared to take pride in the brand of bulldozer justice that he has pioneered and which has been widely criticised by the Opposition and even the Supreme Court as recently as two days ago.

Claiming that his government matches the strength of a bulldozer, Adityanath said: “The bulldozer is not for the faint-hearted. You need both heart and mind to control it. Only those people who have willpower and strength can move a bulldozer. Those who used to rub their nose on the ground in front of rioters would fall flat in front ofa bulldozer.”

Akhilesh had said in the morning that the bulldozers would turn towards Gorakhpur, Adityanath’s seat of religious and political power, when the Samajwadi Party came to power. Reacting to the chief minister’s statements later in the day, Akhilesh told reporters: “A bulldozer doesn’t have a brain, it only has a steering wheel. The BJP government is full of arrogance.”

“The chief minister often questions the DNA of the SP but does he know the full form of DNA?” Akhilesh asked.

The BJP government under Adityanath has been freely using bulldozers to demolish the houses and business establishments of those it considers criminals. The minorities and the critics of the government have often been at the receiving end of such actions.