New Delhi: Facing allegations of irregularities, Uttar Pradesh minister and Union minister Anupriya Patel’s husband Ashish Patel on Thursday launched a broadside against the Yogi Adityanath government by daring it to remove him from his post.
Ashish not only accused UP director of information Shishir Singh of tarnishing his image by “planting false stories” but also dared the Amitabh Yash-led Special Task Force (STF) to shoot him on the chest, “if you have the guts”.
Singh and Yash are perceived to be close to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), which refused to comment about the UP minister’s statement.
The STF, Ashish alleged, was trying to intimidate him in the teacher recruitment case. “You cannot suppress the teacher recruitment case through intimidation,” he said, addressing party workers of the Apna Dal (Sonelal) and the media in Lucknow.
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With his wife next to him, the UP minister also accused his sister-in-law and Anupriya’s elder sister Pallavi Patel of being a “dharna master” sponsored by the Yogi government.
Ashish has been facing the heat from Pallavi, an MLA from the Samajwadi Party, in connection with the alleged irregularities and corruption in promotion to 250 posts of Heads of Department in the technical education department.
The Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) leader had not only protested in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly last month but also reached the Raj Bhavan to demand a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT).
On Thursday, Ashish asked the UP director of information to stop pushing news against him in local media. ”Shishir babu stop publishing news…,” he said. “For the past few days, I have been receiving increased media coverage. However, my positive aspects are being hidden, and my negative sides are being highlighted. Now, I will fight with greater determination. I am not afraid of conspiracies. Let the CBI investigate me.”
“I am not afraid of conspiracies. Get the allegations of irregularities in promotions investigated by CBI. Is it my fault that 7 out of 14 directors were made from the underprivileged class? Is it my fault that backward people were given a chance… if it is, then I will keep doing this. I will not be afraid. You can scare me, I will see how much you can scare me,” Ashish said. “Cowards resign. If you have the courage, then dismiss me.”
“Find out which STF officer has sent two people to sit on dharna, everything will come out. The STF personnel shoot at the feet, if you have the courage then shoot at the chest,” he said.
At the same press briefing, Anupriya asserted that there was no question of “compromising” in the row. “We know how to answer. We know who is behind this controversy. Whosoever is doing this…We will keep raising the issue of social justice. Whenever we raise the voice of Dalits and OBCs, some people get hurt…,” the Apna Dal (S) national president said, without naming the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
The couple further thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for “believing” in them
Meanwhile, STF chief Yash brushed aside the allegation brought against him. ”We have major things to deal with criminals, why would we get involved in political issues? ‘I do not want to comment on his accusations. He is not a criminal; he is a minister,” he told ThePrint.
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Power struggle
If a section of the BJP insiders is to be believed, the ongoing row boils down to the power tussle between Anupriya and Pallavi Patel over the legacy of their father and Apna Dal founder Sonelal Patel.
”Though Ashish and Anupriya did not take Yogi’s name, their target was the CMO. They are becoming a tool in a rift between the Centre and the state,” a senior UP BJP functionary told ThePrint, adding that there was a new shift of power dynamics in the Patel family after the 2022 UP polls.
“Earlier Anupriya’s faction had more power because she is a Union minister and her husband is a cabinet minister in the state. But after defeating Deputy CM Keshav Maurya in 2022, Pallavi also got huge traction. So Krishna Patel’s faction is also getting attention and they (Krishna and her daughter Pallavi) are challenging Anupriya…”
Pallavi, according to the BJP functionary, has Yogi’s support as she defeated Maurya in assembly polls. “She can not create such a big controversy without the support of the government.”
Another BJP functionary said whereas Anupriya and Ashish were considered close to Shah as their alliance was sealed under his watch in 2014, Pallavi has support of the CMO.
“That is why Ashish emphasised in his statement that she (Pallavi) was getting support from the government. Both Anupriya and Ashish were targeting the UP government for its ‘anti-OBC and Dalits’ stance’, now the CMO is settling scores,” the second BJP functionary explained.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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