UP minister threatens to resign if DM not transferred

UP Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar

Lucknow: An Uttar Pradesh minister on Monday threatened to resign if his demand for transferring the Ghazipur district magistrate was not met immediately. In what could be embarrassing for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Om Prakash Rajbhar said he had spoken to him but nothing had been done.

"If my demand is not met, I will resign from the government. What is the use of remaining in the government if a minister is not heard," said Rajbhar, national president of the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBJP), a BJP ally that won four assembly seats in the 403-member House. The backward and handicapped welfare minister had earlier announced he would sit on dharna in Ghazipur tomorrow to press for his demand for DM Sanjay Kumar Khatri's transfer.

Khatri, he alleged, was not paying heed to the problems of the people. "We will be sitting on dharna in Ghazipur tomorrow for removal of the DM," Rajbhar told PTI. The MLA from Zahoorabad in Ghazipur said he had taken up 19 issues with the DM so far, but none had been resolved.

Asked whether he would meet the chief minister, Rajbhar said, "CM is in Delhi. Let him come...I will try to meet him." "I have been complaining against the DM... If he is not removed I will sit on dharna... On June 25, I met UP BJP organisation secretary Sunil Bansal and on June 27 called on the chief minister to take up the matter. However, the DM is yet to be removed," Rajbhar said.

People's representatives, he said, are accountable to those who voted them to power. "People are angry that their work is not getting done even after the cabinet minister's request," he added. The demonstration will be held at the Surju Pandey Park in Ghazipur.