Lucknow, Mar 5 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai on Tuesday claimed the expansion of the council of ministers ahead of the Lok Sabha polls was aimed at striking a “caste balance” and shows the nervousness of the BJP government.
Four new ministers were inducted into the council of ministers on Tuesday headed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar was administered the oath of office alongside RLD’s Anil Kumar and two BJP leaders.
Apart from Rajbhar and Kumar, Dara Singh Chauhan and Sunil Kumar Sharma from the BJP are the new entrants into the state council of ministers, in what is being seen as an attempt by the BJP to consolidate its position in several regions of the state ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
“The expansion of the Cabinet at a time when elections are just around the corner is only showing the nervousness of the BJP. Giving berths to a leader who was abusing the prime minister and the chief minister and to a leader who has just lost an election, just to maintain caste balance, clearly shows how nervous the BJP is,” Rai told reporters.
He said the BJP, which has claimed that it would win 400 seats in this general election, are seeing some of their candidates refusing the nomination. “Even senior leaders like Dr Harsh Vardhan have retired from politics,” he said.
The state Congress chief alleged that the “corrupt face” of BJP became clearer on Monday when the State Bank of India moved the Supreme Court seeking an extension of time till June 30 to disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties.
“It is clear that they want to hide this information till the Lok Sabha elections. One thing is clear from this move that there has been massive corruption in the name of Electoral Bonds and if this information comes out then the Modi government will be exposed,” he said.
On the removal of Renuka Mishra, the chairperson of the Police Recruitment Board, Rai said, “It is clear that Yogi ji is accepting this corruption right under his nose and is finding himself failing to stop the continuous leaking of papers for the last seven years.” “It was due to the pressure mounted by Rahul Gandhi ji in his ‘Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra’ and him repeatedly raising questions on this matter that today the government has accepted the truth of this corrupt system and cancelled the exams,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the Uttar Pradesh government removed Renuka Mishra as the chairperson of the UP police recruitment and promotion board following allegations of question paper leak and subsequent cancellation of constable recruitment examinations.
The Congress leader alleged that the double-engine government of Yogi Adityanath and Narendra Modi was “anti-farmers and anti-labourer”. PTI SAB NSD NSD
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