Shivpal Yadav threatens to quit over land grab by SP leaders

AGRA/LUCKNOW: With his party gearing up for the big battle ahead, senior UP minister Shivpal Yadav stunned a congregation in Mainpuri on Sunday by threatening to resign. Shivpal, who is younger brother of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and has been appointed as the state in charge of the party in the crucial election year, said that the party leaders and officers were not listening to him. “If this situation continues, I will quit the ministry and work for the party,” he said.

Addressing a gathering after inaugurating a school in Karhal, Mainpuri, Yadav echoed the sentiments of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who recently said that corruption and land grabbing had been going on despite the state government’s efforts to stop it. “We came to power by promising to root out corruption but it seems that officials at tehsil and police station levels are still indulging in it,” the PWD minister said.

Later, talking to TOI, Shivpal Yadav said that the officers and the engineers were playing mischief with the party and harming the government. “Why shall I remain a minister when the officers don’t listen and neglect me,” said Shivpal Yadav adding he would work for the party if this mess persists.

Notably, delivering a tough talk at a gathering of party workers on the occasion of 84th birth anniversary of SP leader late Jnaneshwar Mishra in Lucknow earlier this month, the SP chief had made a similar statement. “Will you (party workers) be able to form government again? Remove your flaws. There are many shortcomings. Will you be able to work on them? Will you stop grabbing lands? There are many places where land grabbing is on. If you have to earn money, do any other business. In politics you have to sacrifice things,” he had said without mincing words.

Referring to youth workers in the party, Mulayam said the new breed of party workers did not know the foundation of ‘samajwad’ (socialism). “I have asked (chief minister) Akhilesh Yadav a number of times about training of youth workers but no heed was paid to it,” he said, adding, “Politics is the most difficult work and training of youths is a must for that.”

Political analysts say that Shivpal Yadav, who hold about half a dozen portfolios, was feeling neglected for quite some time in the party as a number of political initiatives taken by him were shot down.

The PWD minister came under fire after another minister Balram Yadav was briefly removed by the CM over his role in negotiating the party’s merger with gangster Mukhtar Ansari's Qaumi Ekta Dal. The merger, said to have the blessings of Shivpal Yadav, was scrapped by the CM just three days after it was announced.