BJP MLAs in Uttar Pradesh fault own government

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s claims of good governance took a beating during the ongoing Budget session of the state legislature, when the members of the ruling party time and again raised questions about government functioning, saying that people were not getting benefit of government schemes.

Be it mining or the issue of stray cattle, the BJP legislators joined ranks with the opposition members to allege that the government’s working was faulty.

On Tuesday, when Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna was singing paeans of the new mining policy of the Yogi government and claimed that morang (coarse sand) was available in the market at the rate of ₹45 per cubic feet, the BJP legislator Roshan Lal Verma claimed that in Shahjahanpur the people are purchasing the same at the rate of ₹700 per cubic feet. Incidentally, Suresh Khanna also belongs to Shahajahanpur.

“The mantriji is saying that morang is available at ₹45 per cubic feet in UP but in Shahahjahanpur it costs ₹700 per cubic feet. I will appreciate if Minister sahib make coarse sand available at ₹45 per cubic feet in Shahajahanpur,” Verma said.

The Parliamentary Affairs minister was taken aback. He looked back at the legislator while the opposition thumped their desks in support of the BJP member, demanding reply from the minister. Speaker Hridaya Nath Dixit came to the rescue of minister and moved on to the next question.

Another BJP MLA Vikram Singh from Fatehpur said that the lease holders are charging exorbitant rate for sand and morang (coarse sand).

Ditto was the case when Manoj Pandey (SP) raised question about stray animals that are causing damage to the crop. When Animal Husbandry Minister SPS Baghel claimed that stray animals were no menace in UP, a member of the ruling party from Bundelkhand  Ashok Chandel said these stray animals were a great menace and demanded  that a House committee should be set up to recommend ways on the problem of stray animals.

The ruling BJP also faced embarrassment when its member Vimla Solanki alleged that money and muscle power was being used in the district and khetra panchayat elections and demanded that all the panchayat elections should be made direct.

The matter was raised during the question hour, when Solanki said that through media she came to know how money and muscle power has been used in the district panchayat chairman elections in Firozabad. "The matter is very serious and the government should consider holding direct elections in these posts to eradicate irregularities," she said.

State panchayat minister Bhupendra Choudhury refused to admit about any irregularities in the ongoing by-elections and declined the demand for direct elections in panchayats.