After making frontal attack on Mulayam Singh Yadav, Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma targeted the Muslim face of the Samajwadi Party, Azam Khan and claimed that the state minister along with his colleagues feels suffocated in the Party.
``I know Azam Khan as he worked with me and I can say that he and several other ministers of UP feel suffocated. Azam had a fear due to riots in Muzaffarnaagr otherwise he would have already quit so far", claimed Verma while accusing Azam of always having practice to say objectionable words. When asked that how he learnt that Khan was unhappy in the government, Verma said that he was a central minister and sleuths of Intelligence Bureau and Central Bureau of Investigation keep them providing vital inputs. It may be mentioned that Verma made the above remarks on CBI providing them inputs when Mulayam and several other leaders already accused Congress of using CBI to settle political scores.
Taking to media persons soon after attending a conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Union Minister accused the SP government of not cooperating with the Centre on implementation of development schemes, and said politics should be not done with projects that benefit the people. He claimed the Centre gave maximum development funds to UP, but those were not being utilised properly. Citing an example, he said the central government gave a huge sum under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, but irregularities were committed in its implementation in the State.
"We wrote a letter to the state to provide land for power plants in Jagdishpur and Gonda, but it was not done. We had to purchase the land. The power plants will benefit entire Uttar Pradesh, then why politics was done. Politics should not be done in such matters," the Union minister said. On the interim budget tabled by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in the State Assembly on Friday, Verma said "whatever budget has been presented it is on funds provided by the Centre". Terming corruption and law and order as the major issues, the minister said the people of the state had never been so distressed. He alleged that only people belonging to a particular caste were being recruited in government jobs.
Earlier addressing a conference of the CII, the Union Minister claimed of launching several projects in UP. "Government of India is taking steps to increase industrial activity in UP," Verma said. The theme for the conference was 'Demand for Steel in India: The End User Perspective'. The union minister said that in order to increase supply of steel to rural consumers, companies like SAIl and RINl have setup 521 and more than 100 rural dealers respectively in remote parts of the state. He further added that due to the government's efforts India has become the second best in terms of growth amongst top ten steel producing countries in the world and a Net Exporter of steel during 2013-14. Verma also touched upon factors like demand in rural markets, logistics and adoption of new technologies during his address. The Government of India has initiated steps to boost steel demand and development, he maintained adding, Steel Processing Units (SPUs) have been set up in remote parts of the state like Gonda, Jhansi, Barabanki, Kaiserganj, Bahraich, Mirzapur, Hardoi, lakhimpur and Ambedkar Nagar. Moreover, a one of its kind forged wheel plant is also coming up in Rae Bareli and two Power Plants of 500 Mega Watt each are being set up at Jagdishpur and Gonda. These units will help in increasing the supply of specific varieties of steel products to industrial users and the public at large. Joint Secretary, Ministry of Steel, Abbasi, Steel Authority ofIndia limited (SAIl) Chairman C S Verma, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam limited (RINl) CMD P Madhusudan and other senior officers from the Ministry of Steel, representatives of CII and delegates from the industry were also present on the occasion. A number of industry leaders were also felicitated on the occasion.