UP mulling government jobs for SP workers: Shivpal

Lauding the contribution of the SP workers in bringing the party to power with an absolute majority, Yadav said here Wednesday that the government was seriously contemplating government jobs for them.

Shivpal Yadav, an uncle of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, was speaking at a party central wing meeting at the Gandhi Bhavan auditorium here.

Yadav's statement was in sync with the party's stand on rewarding loyal party workers, SP's city president Mujib-ur-Rahman said.

Reacting strongly to the statement, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak Thursday said he found it not only strange but appalling that a minister of such seniority as Shivpal Yadav was making such "silly statements".

"I find this completely ridiculous. How can an elected state government, which is mandated to look after the needs of every section of the society speak of providing government jobs to party workers," he wondered.

The minister had earlier also courted controversy when he reportedly told officials at a meeting last year that it was fine for them to "steal a little" but they "should not loot".

"If you work, you can steal a little," he had told officials then.