UP minister threatens to resign, MLA sits on dharna

Lucknow: Alleging rampant corruption in the Yogi Adityanath government, a Cabinet minister on January 28 threatened to resign from his post, while a BJP MLA sat on dharna. During a public meeting in Varanasi, State Minister for Backward Classes and Welfare Om Prakash Rajbhar asked people to fight for their rights, while Dinanath Bhaskar, MLA from Aurai Assembly in Bhadohi district, said he was ready to hit the streets over corruption in the district administration. “Officials are still looting people in the name of schemes and construction of toilets,” the minister said.
Rajbhar, who is also the president of Suheldeo Bhartiya Samaj Party, a BJP ally in the state, alleged that people are being discouraged to lodge police complaints and they are being abused at police stations. He said people are being asked to pay Rs 5,000 bribe at police stations to get their work done.
Alleging that the poor were being harassed in the name of anti-land mafia task force, Rajbhar said, “Yogi Maharaj, if you support the corrupt, then I will not be with you.”
Stating that he has been quiet for the past 10 months, Rajbhar said the fight will now be from the front, asking people to speak up if they feel that rights of the poor were being taken away.
MLA Bhaskar said: “Our governments, both at the Centre and the state, are working towards removing corruption but it (corruption) has not finished at the block, police station or tehsil level. I had complained about the rampant misuse of office, and corruption at the tehsil and police station level 15 days ago to both the district magistrate and the SP. But, they did not take any action, forcing me to sit on a dharna.”
Bhaskar, who had joined the BJP in 2015 after switching over from the BSP, said: “ At the tehsil level, money is being taken for every small work and I got complaints that names of villagers are being changed on computers deliberately just to take money for correction.”

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