‘Shivpal is Akhilesh Govt’s enemy’, alleges Shahid Siddiqui

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Former Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shahid Siddiqui on Friday described chief minister Akhilesh Yadav's uncle Shivpal Yadav's bizarre advice for bureaucrats to be an extremely dangerous statement, and alleged that the Uttar Pradesh PWD minister wants to bring down the state government's reputation.

Siddiqui, a Rajya Sabha MP, said Shivpal Yadav's statement is not at all surprising.

"In the past, he has said that incidents like Nithari do happen, what was so great about it. He has been making all kinds of controversial and foolish statements. Now, by making this statement that you may rob, but you may not be a dacoit.

Telling the officers that chori karo par daaka mat dalo, saying this is like giving a licence to all the officials that do ''whatever you want, loot the state,'' said Siddiqui.

"This is an extremely dangerous statement coming from a person, who wanted to be the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, who even now wants to be the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, who wants to bring down Akhilesh's government," he added.

Siddiqui, who is also a well-known Urdu journalist, further described Shivpal Yadav to be the biggest enemy of the ruling Akhilesh Yadav Government in Uttar Pradesh.

"I think he is not a friend of Akhilesh Yadav, he is an enemy of Akhilesh Yadav, he is an enemy of the Government of Uttar Pradesh. Persons like him are the biggest hurdles to the growth and development of Uttar Pradesh," said Siddiqui.

"All the 'chachas' (uncles) whether it is Shivpal or Ram Gopal are responsible for making Uttar Pradesh a backward state and they will be responsible for whatever is going wrong in Uttar Pradesh. And I am sorry (to say) that a young man, an honest man, like Akhilesh will have to pay the price for the faults of his uncles," he added.

Shivpal Yadav earlier told PWD officials in Etah that it is okay to steal a little, but not loot as long as they work hard.

"I told PWD officials that if you work hard, you can steal a little but not behave like dacoits," he said.