Uttar Pradesh Congress accused the state government of indulging in corruption in the name of launching ‘Swadeshi’ mobile and demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) besides immediate removal of the minister concerned.
The UPCC alleged that earlier also Prime Minister Narendra Modi facilitated the launching of 4G service of a private mobile operator as its owner was his corporate friend and now both Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s photo were used to promote a private mobile in the name of ‘Swadeshi’.
The UPCC reaction came soon after the brother of UP Minister Kapil Dev Agarwal was booked in a case of fraud and forgery. The FIR was registered at the Hazratganj police station in Lucknow against Lalit Agarwal, brother of state minister Kapil Dev Agarwal.
Lalit Agarwal and his accomplices had put up hoardings for the launch of a ‘Swadeshi’ brand mobile phone across the state by putting pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The photo and the phone on the hoardings were shown in such a way that it seemed that the government was planning to launch the ‘Swadeshi’ mobile phones.
It may be noted that Kapil Dev Agarwal and other ministers were also involved in launching the phone.
Attacking both Modi and Yogi for facilitating their corporate friends, UP Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu said on Tuesday that the launch of a private mobile giving it a tag of ‘swadeshi’ was yet another act of corruption in which both the Central as well as state governments were involved.
The Congress alleged that the company which developed the so-called ‘Swadeshi’ phone asked Lalit Agarwal to advertise and promote it in exchange of a huge sum of money.