UP: Sulking minister meets Adityanath; says will continue on his post
Lucknow/Meerut, Jul 21: Uttar Pradesh minister Dinesh Khatik on Thursday met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath here, saying he has put his all issues before him and will continue on his post.
The meeting came after a letter of Khatik to Union Home Minister Amit Shah offering to quit surfaced on social media. The minister in the letter alleged that he is being ignored by officials as he is Dalit and alleged corruption in his department.
Khatik, Minister of State in the Jal Shakti Department, met Adityanath at 5 Kalidas Marg, the CM's official residence.
"Whatever my issues were, I have put them before the CM. Action will be taken," Khatik told reporters after coming out from the CM's residence.
"The government is running under the leadership of the CM, who has a zero-tolerance policy (towards corruption) and he will continue to work. I will also continue working," Khatik said.
Cabinet Minister Swatantra Dev Singh was also present during the meeting.
When specifically asked whether action will be taken against officers, Khatik only said, "I have put all issues before him."
Besides writing the letter to Shah, sources close to Khatik said he had handed a copy to Governor Anandiben Patel too.
With the letter surfacing on social media, sources said he had made a trip to the national capital the previous day.
Khatik's letter having serious allegation of corruption and officials ignoring him had created embarrassment for the BJP-led government, only months after it returned to power with fanfare, a feat repeated in the state after over three decades.
The issue also provided opportunity to the opposition to attack the government.
Khatik's public expression of anger against officers for not caring much for the ministers came in the sequence of Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak discarding transfer of doctors in the Health Department he is heading and seeking an explanation from Additional Chief Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad.
Adityanath ordering suspension of five PWD officials, including minister Jitin Prasada's OSD, on charges of irregularities had further put the government in a bad light. Media reports suggested Prasada was upset over the step but later the minister cleared the air saying he was not upset.
Khatik, a two-time BJP MLA from Hastinapur, repeated his outburst this morning while talking to mediapersons in his native Meerut saying there is no justification for his continuing in the post as some bureaucrats disconnect his phone calls and do not answer his letters.
Khatik had an informal interaction with the media here during which he praised the chief minister and said though Adityanath has adopted the policy of zero tolerance on corruption, officials in the state are corrupt.
"Some officers are defaming the government by acting arbitrarily," he alleged. The minister also levelled charges of corruption against the officers in transfers and in the Namami Gange scheme.
"If the department officers do not respect a minister of state, do not answer his letters or disconnect the phone, there is no justification in me continuing in the post at the cost of my self-respect," he said.
Though Adityanath calmed Khatik, opposition leader Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday continued to attack the BJP government.
In an obvious reference to the minister, Yadav said there has been a massive loot in transfer of employees and appointments in the present government.
"There is a tussle going on between the ministers-officers for dividing their share (of gains through corruption). Accusations and counter-allegations are also being made. Ministers and officials are robbing the public together, he alleged in a statement.
BJP's prominent Dalit face in the western UP, Khatik has long been involved in controversies over various issues.
On June 12, he had a heated argument with an inspector over the lodging of an FIR when he had reached the Ganganagar police station regarding a case of robbery and assault on a worker by policemen.
The next day Khatik had returned his escort expressing displeasure and made serious allegations of corruption in police stations.
In 2021, he was accused of harassment in the suicide case of Ganganagar-based advocate Omkar Singh. An FIR was registered against him after lawyers staged a sit-in but after he became a minister, police cleared his name before filing the chargesheet in court.
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Jailed Palestinian writer wins International prize for arabic fiction
Abu Dhabi: Palestinian author Basim Khandaqji, who has been imprisoned by Israel since 2004, has been named the winner of the 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) for his novel “A Mask, the Colour of the Sky”.
Khandaqji’s publisher Rana Idriss, of the Lebanon-based Dar al-Adab publishing house, accepted the award on his behalf at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.
The book tells the story of Nur, an archaeologist living in a Palestinian refugee camp in Ramallah, who adopts a “mask” when he finds a blue identity card belonging to an Israeli in the pocket of an old coat.
Born in Nablus, Khandaqji has been imprisoned by Israel since he was 21 years old. He studied political science at Al-Quds University from prison with a thesis on Israeli studies and has published several poetry collections and novels.
In an interview in January, Khandaqji’s brother said his family had not been able to speak with him for four months, a problem many Palestinians held in Israeli prisons have faced since October 2023.
Khandaqji wrote the award-winning book in prison in 2021, when he would manage to write about two pages each day between 5am and 7am, although “very often, the papers are taken from him and destroyed by the guard”, his brother said.
