Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today alleged that the BJP-ruled Centre has 'copied' the idea of Swacch Bharat he had introduced to clean Uttar Pradesh way back in 1990.   

''The Centre has copied my cleanliness drive campaign launched in 1990 by introducing the Swacch Bharat programme but they will not succeed in their effort as cleanliness is directly related to poverty,'' he said.

Addressing a function here at the Chief Minister's residence Mr Yadav said, ‘‘The Narendra Modi government should know that till the people of the country come above the poverty line nothing can happen.''

''I had started this cleanliness drive way back in 1990 after becoming the Chief Minister of the state for the first time. But poverty of the people became a hurdle in the programme,'' he said while admitting that the cleanliness drive he had adopted at that time was a copy of Bansi Lal's initiative in Haryana.

He, however, supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his current foreign policy by visiting different countries.

''India should make friendly ties with big nations and I think Modi is doing the right thing. But in Parliament I will ask the PM to give the details of his foreign visit and its outcome,'' he stated.

But on the other hand he criticised the Centre for failing to curb corruption and inflation.