Pallavi Patel protests over alleged corruption in technical edu dept

Pallavi Patel, leader of Apna Dal (Kamerawadi), staged a protest at the Vidhan Bhavan on Monday after walking out of the ongoing winter assembly session. She accused the technical education department, led by minister Ashish Patel, husband of her politically estranged sister and Union minister Anupriya, of corruption in promotions.

She alleged that ineligible candidates were promoted to the position of head of department (HoD) in government and aided polytechnics, violating the new guidelines. “As per the new guidelines, direct appointment is done after selection through UPSC. There is no provision of promotion,” said Patel, later talking to media.

“There are 147 government and 19 aided polytechnics. Rules were followed in Gorakhpur region and violated in other parts of the state. This could not have happened without undue favour and I wanted government to reply on this,” said Patel, who started indefinite protest at Chaudhary Charan Singh statue in Vidhan Bhavan.

Meanhwile, Ashish, Apna Dal (Soneylal) executive president, refuted charges and said he can resign if asked for. In a late-night social media post on Sunday, vehemently denied the accusations, calling them part of a “political conspiracy” aimed at tarnishing his image.

“Every single promotion was approved by a committee headed by the then principal secretary of technical education M Devraj,” he said in a statement on Monday.