If there's an award for corruption, it should go to Akhilesh Yadav: UP dy CM Pathak

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak on Thursday slammed Akhilesh Yadav for signing a letter accusing the Centre of ''blatant misuse'' of investigating agencies, saying if there is an award for corruption, it should go to the Samajwadi Party chief.

Pathak mentioned alleged scams during the SP tenures in power relating to projects like Gomti riverfront park, Noida and Greater Noida land allotments, ration cards, and mining, but did not directly link Yadav to them.

Addressing a press conference at the state BJP office here, Pathak said, ''Nine prominent opposition leaders have written a letter to the prime minister, saying the investigation agencies are implicating the leaders of the opposition in false cases, but all these nine politicians are mired in corruption and are making fabricated allegations to save themselves.'' Yadav was among the nine opposition leaders who wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging ''blatant misuse'' of central investigative agencies on March 5.

The others included chief ministers Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), K Chandrasekhar Rao (Telangana), Bhagwant Mann (Punjab), RJD leader and Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray.

The letter was written after the arrest of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on February 26 in a case related to the city's excise policy.

''SP president Akhilesh Yadav is also a signatory to the letter written to the prime minister, whereas it is well known that the SP government has been involved in corruption,'' Pathak said.

''If there is an award for corruption, it should be given to the SP president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav,'' he added.

Asked in how many cases against Yadav have charge sheets been filed, the deputy CM did not give a clear answer, saying, ''Our government is establishing the rule of law with complete fairness and transparency in the state.'' When asked why the Yogi Adityanath government in the state has not taken any action in these scams during its last six years in office, Pathak said, ''We are in no hurry. We will take action in each scam as per the rule of law after proper investigation.'' Reacting to the allegations, senior SP leader and MLA Manoj Pandey, said, ''We are in opposition and they are ruling (the state). They can initiate a probe if a scam was committed.'' He claimed only 20 per cent of the state budget was utilised by the BJP government in its previous term and accused the party of trying to divert people's attention from real issues with gimmicks.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)