Shivpal Yadav is Akhilesh govt's enemy: Ex-SP leader

New Delhi: Former Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shahid Siddiqui on Friday described Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's uncle Shivpal Yadav's bizarre advice for bureaucrats to be an extremely dangerous statement, and alleged that the Uttar Pradesh PWD Minister wants to bringdown the state government's reputation. Siddiqui, a Rajya Sabha MP, said Shivpal Yadav's statement is not at all surprising. "In the past, he has said that incidents like Nitharido happen, what was so great about it. He has been making all kinds of controversial and foolish statements. Now, by making this statement that you may rob, but you may not be a dacoit. "Telling the officers that 'chori karo par daaka mat dalo', saying this is like giving a licence to allthe officials that do 'whatever you want, lootthe state','' said Siddiqui. "This is an extremely dangerous statement coming from a person, who wanted to be the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, who even now wants to be the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, who wants to bring down Akhilesh's government," he added. Siddiqui, who is also a well-known Urdu journalist, further described Shivpal Yadav to be the biggest enemy of the ruling Akhilesh Yadav Government in Uttar Pradesh. "I think he is not a friend of Akhilesh Yadav, he is an enemy of Akhilesh Yadav, he is an enemy of the Government of Uttar Pradesh. Persons like himare the biggest hurdles to the growth and development of Uttar Pradesh," said Siddiqui. "All the 'chachas' [uncles] whether it is Shivpal or Ram Gopal are responsible for making Uttar Pradesh a backward state and they will be responsible for whatever is going wrongin Uttar Pradesh. And I am sorry [to say] that a young man, an honest man, like Akhilesh will have to pay the price for the faults of his uncles," he added. Earlier, senior SP leader Shivpal Yadav virtually gave official sanction to administrators to steal. Yadav earlier told PWD officials in Etah that it is okay to steal a little, but not loot as long as they work hard. "I told PWD officials that if you work hard, you cansteal a little but not behave like dacoits," he said. Yadav is the uncle of Akhilesh Yadav. His statement, which caused an uproar with allparties condemning the SP, was followed by another, trying to explain himself. Yadav said he had no intention of promoting corruption, instead he was actually speaking against it. He then went on to blame the media, saying he had no idea reporters were present there: 'Mere ko nahi pata woh chori se kaise andar a gaye [I don't know how they slunk in like thieves]." "We have always cooperated with the media, now media should also understand my position. Media should have spoken to me first before publicising these comments," Yadav said. Shivpal Yadav was at thecentre of another storm a few months ago when he recommended that people kill and eat the Nilgais as they tasted great -- this was in response to widespread calls for saving cows from slaughter.