Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav attacked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the investment of Rs 2,600 crore from the provident fund of UP Power Corporation employees in tainted non-banking finance company DHFL.
He demanded the Chief Minister’s resignation for failing to act on time and preventing the scam.
“CM Yogi Adityanath is so weak that even after wanting to remove Energy Minister Shrikant Sharma, he is unable to sack the minister. The UP government is right now busy suppressing facts even as key institution like Power Corporation is facing a crisis today,” the SP chief said at a press conference in Lucknow on Tuesday.
“The FIR lodged by the state government clearly indicates that the day the EPF was transferred to DHFL, Samajwadi Party was not in power in UP. The DHFL was not given a single penny during the SP regime and if anyone is responsible for such a scam, it is none other than Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath himself,” the SP chief charged.
Akhilesh Yadav added, “The Chief Minister reviewed the performance of all departments during his 30-month tenure since March 2017. Why did he fail to act and prevent the scam in power employees’ provident fund money.”
The SP chief demanded a probe into the scam by a sitting judge of the High Court or Supreme Court. “In a rush, the government recommended the probe to the CBI. However, truth will only be unearthed when the probe is done by a sitting judge of the High Court or Supreme Court. Also, the Chief Minister should resign immediately, he should tender his resignation before he inaugurates Medanta hospital today, which was constructed during SP regime,” the former chief minister of UP said.
Akhilesh further said that the state was passing through one of its worst phases and not Ram Rajya but Nathu Ram Rajya was prevailing in the state as anyone could get killed anywhere.
“Today unemployment is at its peak but the BJP government has again started deflecting the issue by raking up black money issue which they claimed was curbed during demonetisation,” Akhilesh said.
The SP chief claimed that the countdown to the BJP government had begun and the recent bypolls in 11 Assembly seats were a clear indication. He alleged that the BJP with the help of the district authorities managed to win Gangoh and Mau seats, even though it lost the Zaidpur and Jalalpur seat.
“In Rampur too, even after several requests, the District Magistrate and SP were not changed by the Election Commission, but the people gave them a befitting reply,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Chief Minister’s office had targeted SP chief over his relations with the then MD of UPPCL, AP Mishra, who was arrested by Economic Offence Wing of UP Police probing the EPF scam.
On Sunday, the UP government claimed that the decision to invest EPF money in DHFL was taken by the previous SP regime led by Akhilesh Yadav in April 2014 and the process of investment was carried forward in 2016.