| Bureaucrats can steal a little, says UP minister |
LUCKNOW Uttar Pradesh Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav, uncle of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, told officials that they can steal a little of public money if they work hard but they should not behave like dacoits.
Shivpal, in charge of housing and construction, hastily withdrew the offer he made a day earlier during a meeting with government employees, which was also attended by mediapersons.
“If you work hard, you can steal a little, but don’t behave like bandits,” the Press Trust of India quoted Yadav as saying at the meeting in Etah town, about 200km from capital Lucknow.
The comments drew flak from political opponents, prompting Yadav to retract his offer and accuse mediapersons of sneaking into the gathering. “I have taken back those words,” he said in Lucknow on Friday. “Why are you raking it up? I don’t know why the media is targeting me,” he said.
The opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) condemned the minister’s invitation to officials to steal.
“A minister’s statement is like a policy of the government and if he says so then the government is offering a license to steal the public money,” local BJP leader Lalji Tandon said.
Agencies
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