Uttar Pradesh Assembly budget session: Ruckus in House as SP MLAs protest Dy CM Pathak’s ‘hypocrite’ remark

“The ventilators bought during the Covid-19 pandemic are non-functional. In fact, the entire health system is on a ventilator,” he added.

“While the Health Minister conducts surprise visits at hospitals and summons officers, his raids have no effect since the system remains the same. The raids have no meaning if the officers do not pay a heed to the government,” said Shivpal.

He then pointed out to the statement of Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, who also holds health portfolio, that he made on “samajwadis” (socialists) a day before. Shivpal said Pathak started his political journey from the Congress, then shifted the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to become an MP only to join the BJP to be deputy CM.

Responding to Yadav, Pathak talked about what he termed the “achievements” of the BJP government, saying, “They (SP) have nothing to do with ‘samajwad’ (socialism). They are ‘nakli’ (fake) and ‘dhongi’ (hypocritical) samajwadis, who spread anarchy.”

Protesting against Pathak’s remarks, the SP members started raising slogans against him and the government, leading to unruly scenes.
He then referred to an alleged scam in the health sector during SP’s tenure in government in the state. The SP leaders, he claimed, had turned the Health Department into “a den of loot”.

As the SP members refused to move from the well of the House despite repeated requests by Speaker Satish Mahana, the MLAs from the treasury benches started raising counter-slogans. Refusing to adjourn the House, Mahana first asked Pathak to sit and stop responding. He then requested the SP MLAs to go back to their seats.

Later in the day, leaders of political parties including the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, Congress, Apna Dal (Sonelal), Nidhad Party and the Jansatta Dal spoke on the Governor’s address, with most of them raising the issue of caste-based census.

The Apna Dal (Sonelal), which is an ally of the BJP in the state and is part of the government, said it supported caste census. It, however, questioned the SP’s alleged failure to take up the issue when the party was in power.

Minister Ashish Patel of the Apna Dal said, “Our party supports a caste-based census. Anyone who supports social justice will support caste census.”

Also, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar said he has been in favour of caste census for over a decade.
Rajbhar targeted both the BJP and the Samajwadi Party, saying, “Today, the ruling party claims that they have a double-engine government. There were double-engine government when the UPA was in power and both the SP and the BSP were supporting it in the state. The SP did nothing on this when in power.”

Taking a jibe, Rajbhar said SP president Akhilesh Yadav does not even know the name of their party even as they have been in an alliance with the SP.

Congress legislature party leader Aradhana Mishra claimed that the BJP government was taking credit for works done during the Congress’ tenure, including launching of the schemes like MGNREGA.
Similarly, BSP legislature party leader Uma Shankar Singh alleged that both the BJP and the SP were claiming credit for projects started or conceived during the BSP government. The BSP is of the view that caste census should be done simultaneously across the country, he added.

Cancel ineligible ration cards, hold probe, Speaker urges state govt
Earlier, during the Question hour, Minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary, while replying to a question by SP legislator Faheem Irfan, informed the House that 14 crore people are being given free ration in the state.

Later, SP member Abhay Singh asked the government whether they would ensure that ineligible beneficiaries would be removed from the list, minister Chaudhary said it was an ongoing process.

Speaker Satish Mahana, however, intervened, asking the state government to conduct an inquiry into the matter and ensure that cards of ineligible holders are cancelled. He also asked to add the names of eligible people to the list.

Alleging that food in the Assembly was below quality, the MLAs requested the Speaker to look into the matter. Other legislators complained that they were not getting proper facilities at their official residences as well.

Some expressed unhappiness over getting just coffee, not tea, in the lobby, to which the Speaker assured to look into the issue.