‘Rate of 10,000 rupees for shaking hands with Akhilesh,’ Rajbhar claims

Lucknow: Cabinet Minister in the UP government, Om Prakash Rajbhar, has once again attacked SP chief Akhilesh Yadav. He has written a letter on social media, exposing the alleged “financial exploitation” of Samajwadi Party workers. Rajbhar claimed that some SP workers, claiming to be Yadavs, had come to him with their complaints. They complained that thousands of rupees were being illegally extorted to meet Akhilesh Yadav and cross his security cordon. Through this letter, Rajbhar advised Akhilesh to immediately stop his “rate at the gate” system.

Rajbhar openly stated in the letter that Akhilesh Yadav’s Yadav workers had complained to him. According to the workers, they were being charged 5,000 rupees for a photo opportunity and 8,000 to 10,000 rupees for shaking hands with Akhilesh. Rajbhar sarcastically asked, “Why did the ‘son of the soil’ feel the need to extort money from his own workers?”

Referring to the 900-fold increase in Akhilesh Yadav’s assets, Rajbhar asked, “What was the need for this extra income?” He warned that if this extortion didn’t stop, not only would the public defeat him in the upcoming elections, but the harassed workers themselves would also defeat him, and he wouldn’t even have enough seats to become Leader of the Opposition.

Om Prakash Rajbhar said, “You might be wondering, ‘The workers are yours, the extortion is yours, the siege is yours,’ so why did we get involved? We had to intervene for two reasons. First, you may consider us enemies, but we consider you our friend. Second, your fans, your workers, expressed their pain to me, saying, ‘Minister, if you tell him, perhaps it will be beneficial for us.’ They said, ‘Minister, if you speak, Akhilesh Bhai will definitely listen and understand. The workers were poor, so I thought I’d convey it to you. I’m explaining it to you as a friend.” Get your meeting deal finalised, friend, otherwise it could prove very costly.