Having leveled charges of corruption against his boss agriculture minister Anand Singh in purchase of seeds, minister of state for agriculture Rajiv Kumar Singh on Monday went on the backfoot saying he never complained against the minister or anyone else.
Though he admitted to having written a letter to the chief minister, Rajiv said it was a routine correspondence seeking to brief the chief minister of the department’s activities.
“The letter which is being talked of was written by me way back on October 16, 2012 and a copy of the same was sent to the agriculture minister and principal secretary, agriculture, among others,” he told Hindustan Times adding, “But no allegation, whatsoever, was leveled against anyone.”
He said the idea behind writing the letter was to brief the CM about the departmental activities with suggestions for protecting interests of farmers. Singh, however, did not give a direct reply to the question if he had objections to the system of seed procurement.
The minister had earlier gone to a section of media accusing Anand Singh of ordering the UP Seed Corporation to purchase seeds from certain public sector companies at rates much higher than the markets price although he reportedly favoured the idea of procuring seeds from private companies.
Alleging financial irregularities, he had also demanded a probe into the seed purchase. Anand Singh had, however, refuted the charges.
The minister had earlier gone to a section of media accusing Anand Singh of ordering the UP Seed Corporation to purchase seeds from certain public sector companies at rates much higher than the markets price although he reportedly favoured the idea of procuring seeds from private companies.
Alleging financial irregularities, he had also demanded a probe into the seed purchase. Anand Singh had, however, refuted the charges.
On the other hand, UP Seed Corporation chairman Ujjwal Raman Singh, who enjoys the status of minister of state, on Monday claimed that there was nothing wrong with the state government’s seed procurement system.
Some vested interests, he said, were trying to malign the image of the corporation.
He said he had long back asked Rajiv Kumar Singh to bring the facts to his knowledge if he thought there were any irregularities in seed purchase. “But I have not even received the copy of the letter he has purportedly written to the CM,” he said.