UP ministers slammed for threatening officials

Lucknow, April 24 (IANS) The opposition and activists in Uttar Pradesh Wednesday slammed ministers in Akhilesh Yadav's government for threatening police and other officials of dire consequences if they did not pay heed to them.

State Textile Minister Shiv Kumar Beria had said Tuesday that "no policeman dare not to listen to workers of the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP). If they do not listen, they will be shunted out within 24 to far off posting".

Social activist Nutan Thakur met Governor B.L. Joshi and sought Beria's sacking. She said Beria's statements was objectionable and criminal.

Social Welfare Minister Ram Murti Verma also came in for criticism for his statement that no one could stop crime in the state and that the trend would continue.

An SP legislator had also warned police officials Tuesday, saying that it would be "better if police sided with the SP, otherwise they would be tied and thrown away".

Another SP minister, Om Prakash Singh, when asked to comment on the poor law and order situation in the state, had told a journalist that he had "lost his mind".

Health Minister Ahmad Hasan had also called former chief minister Mayawati "casteist" at a rally in Moradabad, triggering protests.

The opposition BJP said that "power drunk ministers" were riding roughshod over the bureaucracy.

"Is this the way the ruling party members and the ministers intimidate policemen and officials," said Vijay Bahadur Pathak, spokesperson of the state BJP.

He questioned SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's silence on the comments by his party's ministers and blamed him for the foul language used by them. "On many occasions in the past, even Mulayam Singh has warned officials to fall in line," Pathak said.

The statements of the ministers come at a time when Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is in Boston, US, where he is scheduled to address students and faculty of Harvard Business School.