Uttar Pradesh Minister for Backward Classes and Welfare Om Prakash Rajbhar has threatened to resign from his post alleging rampant corruption in the state under the Yogi Adityanath government. Meanwhile, another BJP MLA sat on a dharna saying he was ready to hit the streets over graft.
Speaking up on corruption, minister Rajbhar said, “Yogi Maharaj, if you support the corrupt, then I will not be with you,” as quoted by The Indian Express. Rajbhar, , who is also the president of Suheldeo Bhartiya Samaj Party, a BJP ally in the state, asked people to fight for their rights.
"It is being told that under the BJP government there is no corruption. But that is not true. Earlier there was Rs. 500 corruption, but it has increased to Rs. 5,000," he was quoted as saying by the news agency ANI.
The minister lashed out at the police alleging that people are being discouraged to lodge complaints and are being abused at police stations. He said that he has been quiet for the past 10 months but will now fight from the front.
He also warned the BJP saying that if they did not grant rights to backward classes, then he was ready to go against them and sacrifice his life for that cause. "I have not come to topple the government but warn them. The government in Delhi was formed with the help of backward classes. If you received votes, you will also have to grant them their rights," he said while addressing a rally in Varanasi, as quoted by the ANI.
Meanwhile, MLA from Aurai Assembly in Bhadohi district, Dinanath Bhaskar, who had joined the BJP in 2015 after switching over from the BSP, 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.”
The MLA 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,” as quoted by the newspaper.