Just seven Cong MLAs embarrass Yogi in UP Vidhan Sabha

It is a motley crowd of seven legislators of Congress party in Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha but it has exposed Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on corruption front saying the Chief Minister was shielding corrupt officers who have been penalised by High Court.

The issue was raised through question of propriety when leader of Congress legislature party (CLP) Ajay Kumar Lalu said that one of the IAS officers against whom Allahabad High Court has issued a stricture and has asked state government to suspend him is posted as District Magistrate of Gorakhpur.

“CM is not suspending him because he is DM of his home district,” Lalu said. “On one hand CM says his government has a policy of zero-tolerance on the case of corruption, while on the other he is giving a patronage to a corrupt officer,” the CLP leader said.

The attack was so vociferous that Speaker of Vidhan Sabha Hridaya Narain Dixit came to the rescue of Chief Minister and ordered that not a single word spoken by CLP leader would be recorded. Despite that gag Lalu continued speaking about corruption.

Later, he read out the notice before media at the central hall of the state assembly saying CM is giving patronage to the corrupt officers. This government has double standard. On one hand it talks about controlling corruption while on the other it is giving protection to corrupt officers.

“If this Government actually believes in zero tolerance on corruption why it has not suspended the DM,” he asked. “Today Speaker stopped me from raising this issue but will raise it in during zero hour,” he told this reporter.

Two time Congress MLA Archana Mishra said the number of Congress MLAs in the House of 402 might be miniscule but their presence in the House is felt by one and all. “We are raising corruption issues regularly. We have cornered Government on law and order front. And the issue of the corruption at CM’s door steps would be raised,” she said.

On December 14, the Allahabad High Court had ordered the suspension of Kanpur rural district magistrate Rakesh Kumar Singh and Gorakhpur district magistrate Rajiv Rautela over their involvement in illegal mining. The order was passed by a bench of Allahabad High Court's Chief Justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale and Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta on the petition of one Maqsood, who hails from Dadiyal in the Rampur district.

Singh and Rautela are accused of promoting illegal mining during their tenure as district magistrates in Rampur despite the orders of the High Court.