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U.P.: SP alleges anomalies in job recruitment, stages dharna in Vidhan Parishad
The SP members also alleged that an organised gang patronised by the government was behind paper leaks of competitive examinations
Alleging organised corruption in recruitments in the state, Samajwadi Party (SP) members on Tuesday sat on a dharna in the well of the Vidhan Parishad and shouted slogans against the government, demanding discussion on the issue before chairman Kunwar Manvendra Singh adjourned the house.
Moving the adjournment motion, SP’s Lal Bihari Yadav, Swami Prasad Maurya, Naresh Uttam, Man Singh, Ashutosh Sinha, Mukul Yadav and Shahnawaz alleged that most of the recruitments made in the state since 2017 were marked by corruption and irregularities.
They also alleged that an organised gang patronised by the government was behind paper leaks of competitive examinations and this, he said, deprived the deserving but poor candidates of jobs while the moneyed candidates belonging to a particular class bought jobs.
Maurya read out figures to make his point that recruitments were not being made as per the Constitutional provisions pertaining to job reservations to SCs/STs and OBCs to unduly benefit general class candidates.
Strongly refuting charges, leader of the House and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said all recruitments were being done on merit as per the Constitutional provisions.
He said it was the SP that introduced corruption to job recruitments in the state and the BJP government, he added, was trying to eliminate corruption that got deep rooted during SP’s 15 years of rule in U.P. Maurya also reminded the House that it was the SP that overturned the anti-copying ordinance brought by the Kalyan Singh government.
Not satisfied by the government’s response, all SP members trooped into the well and sat on the dharna there. They also shouted slogans against the government even as the chairman kept on requesting them to keep the House in order. He adjourned the House for 15 minutes when the pleas to pacify SP members failed.
Earlier, during the Question Hour, the SP staged walkout from the Vidhan Parishad over the issue of doubling of farmers’ income. SP members said cultivation cost had grown in the state and asked the government to inform the House as to how much income of farmers had increased since 2014 vis-à-vis increase in the input cost.
Trying to turn the tables on the SP, agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi in his reply enumerated the measures the central and the state governments had taken to enhance income of farmers.
“The cane arrears that our government made to farmers during the last five years is 101 lakh crore which is more than the dues cleared by the SP government during its five-year rule from 2012 to 2017,” he said citing an example.
