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Cough syrup scam started in UP; govt shielding culprits: Akhilesh
The Samajwadi Party is also set to raise other critical issues such as air quality index (AQI) concerns and the SIR during the assembly session
LUCKNOW Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday alleged that a massive scam involving the illegal supply of codeine-based cough syrups running into thousands of crores originated in Uttar Pradesh and accused the BJP government of shielding those involved.
The cough syrup case would be raised during the UP assembly’s winter session, which kicks off on Friday, he said addressing a press conference at the party office in Lucknow.
This comes after Varanasi Police on December 10 conducted a major crackdown on the illegal trade of banned codeine-based cough syrup, seizing around 30,000 bottles from a godown in the city, with an estimated value of approximately ₹60 lakh.
The SP is also set to raise other critical issues such as air quality index (AQI) concerns and the SIR during the assembly session.
Yadav alleged that the BJP government intentionally shortened the assembly session to evade meaningful discussions on these matters. SP lawmakers are expected to stage a protest over these issues at the statue of Chaudhary Charan Singh on the Assembly premises.
“I had a meeting with party MLAs/MLCs and we have decided to raise issues related to the common people in the winter session. The issues of codeine cough syrup and drug mafia will be raised prominently in the assembly.”
“Usually, the bulldozer of our CM is ready to roll in such cases...but it seems either the driver of the bulldozer has fled or the keys are missing. STF constables who were given the responsibility of investigating the cough syrup case are all involved,” alleged Yadav.
On the issue of SIR of electoral polls in UP, Yadav said: “I want to know how UP CM knows that 4 crore votes are getting deleted. This is not SIR, it is NRC in disguise. The BJP couldn’t do it themselves, so now they are getting it done through the election commission. We are happy that our PDA praharis are working round the clock to save votes from getting deleted.”
