Yogi Adityanath, campaigning for the upcoming Assembly by-election in Milkipur that has become a make-or-break battle for him, on Sunday accused the Samajwadi Party of "standing by rapists".

During Adityanath’s seven-year-old reign as chief minister, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed horrific rape and murder cases in Unnao and Hathras, amid complaints from the victims' families of police attempts to protect the accused.

"The SP stands by the rapists of a doctor in Calcutta and a poor girl in Ayodhya. The SP chief claims the accused in the Lucknow molestation is innocent. This is the SP’s character," Adityanath said at a public meeting.

Samajwadi president Akhilesh Yadav had recently defended Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee over the RG Kar rape and murder, saying she had taken the necessary action.

He had demanded DNA tests on a 14-year-old rape complainant from Ayodhya and her alleged tormentor Moin Khan, an SP functionary who has been arrested.

Akhilesh had also presented a man named Pawan Yadav before the media and claimed Lucknow police were harassing him because his surname is "Yadav", a caste seen as a Samajwadi vote bank.

Pawan was arrested with a dozen others for allegedly splashing floodwater on a woman in Gomti Nagar on July 31. He has been granted bail.

After the rape of a young Dalit woman in Hathras in 2020, police were accused of refusing to lodge a complaint and later, following her death at a Delhi hospital, confiscating the body and burning it in the absence of her parents.

In Unnao, where a then BJP lawmaker was the prime accused, the rape survivor's father was allegedly murdered in police custody. A self-immolation bid by mother and daughter outside Adityanath's residence eventually got the police to register a case.

Over the past weeks, Adityanath has pleaded with sadhus, tried to rouse Hindu voters and opened a Ram temple in Milkipur, and sent heavyweight ministers to campaign in the rural Assembly constituency that adjoins Ayodhya.

On Sunday, he visited the constituency for a second time in eight days, inaugurated a job fair and distributed laptops and smartphones among several youths under a state government scheme for fresh graduates.

The by-election is crucial for the chief minister’s political future. As he himself said during his previous visit, Milkipur had become a prestige battle for the BJP, which was "ridiculed by the whole world" after its defeat from Ayodhya (Faizabad) in the general election.