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Karnataka Elections
Loaded with money, ready for power play
Mayawati meets Guv, wants President’s Rule
Akhilesh suspends 22 officials
Sonia holds 2G strategy meet with senior party leaders
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Medha Patkar accuses Ajit Pawar of
Rs 27.5-cr graft
Two CRPF jawans hurt in Naxal attack
Stung by infighting, AP Congress likely to see change of guard
NTR continues to hold sway over TN politics
Telugu writer Ravuri Bharadwaja to get Jnanpith award
Editor of Marathi weekly held for molesting minor
4 policemen knocked down by speeding car in Mumbai
4 Naxals held in Chhattisgarh
IAF gears up to counter Chinese threat in N-E
Kudankulam
Govt to regulate plant-based drugs to improve global acceptance
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BJP promises free laptops, rice at Rs 1
Tribune News Service
Bangalore, April 19 Clean drinking water to all citizens, round-the-clock uninterrupted power supply and a project to teach English in Kannada medium schools are the other important promises the ruling party made seeking the people's mandate for a second time. The manifesto was released by Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley in the presence of Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, state unit BJP chief Prahlad Joshi, party general secretary H N Ananth Kumar and other state leaders. Lessons on “cultural nationalism” and moral values are part of promises held out in the field of education on which the party assured the people it would increase the spending from one per cent of the GDP to 3 per cent. The party promised 50 per cent reservation of seats to women in local bodies and eradication of child labour. Priority for Kannada medium students in higher education and employment, free wi-fi and internet for all schools and colleges and introduction of yoga as part of the syllabus in schools and colleges also figured among the many promises made by the party its manifesto. Jaitley said the rice scheme and the promise to provide laptops could not be construed as populism. Providing the right to food to the deprived sections was a legitimate endeavour, he said. It was also not populist if students in a state known for IT power were given instruments of IT, he added. He said the BJP had succeeded in installing the party's first-ever government in the South five years ago. It governed and completed its full term taking up challenges for the cause of people. Jaitley said whenever the party faced difficult challenges, it stood by values and ideals rather than individuals. The party emerged cleaner, stronger and more cohesive, he said. “We are hoping for another mandate to serve the people”, he said. Shettar said the BJP had provided good governance and a corruption-free and transparent government. Other sops in manifesto
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Loaded with money, ready for power play
Bangalore, April 19 Among various properties listed in his affidavit, nine are located in the US. A candidate of the obscure Karnataka Makkala Paksha, Kheny also owns five vehicles, including a Ferrari. Kheny is one of the many moneybags in the fray. They stand in sharp contrast to candidates such as Manjunath, CPI-ML nominee from Koppal, or Abdul Kareem, Lok Satta Party candidate from Bidar (South), who hardly have any bank balance. While Kheny claims himself to be an entrepreneur, a majority of rich candidates in the fray are realtors and mine-owners. Anand Singh, a mine-owner and Tourism Minister in the BJP government, who is re-contesting on a BJP ticket after threatening to quit the party, is worth Rs 100 crore. He has 25 vehicles listed against his name. Some of these vehicles such as heavy-duty Tatra trucks, meant for military use, are apparently engaged by the BJP candidate from Vijaynagar constituency in his mining operations. Anil Lad, a mine-owner from Bellary who arm-twisted the Congress to give him a ticket from Bellary city constituency despite him being a Rajya Sabha member, has a “modest” Rs 5.19 crore against his name in terms of movable assets. The value of his immovable assets is, however, over Rs 114 crore. Vehicles listed by the 39-year-old candidate in his affidavit include a Harley Davidson bike. He also owns a Bentley besides other luxury cars. Anil Lad’s cousin Santosh Lad, who is contesting on Congress ticket from Kalaghatgi in Dhardwad district, is another well-known moneybag in the fray who is also a miner. Sreeramulu, BSR Congress candidate from Bellary (Rural), and G Karunakar Reddy, eldest of the controversial Reddy brothers of Karnataka, who is seeking a re-election on a BJP ticket from Harpanahalli constituency of Davangere district, are also super-rich mine-owners. Priyakrishna, a realtor, is the richest candidate in the fray and also one of the youngest. When he successfully contested an Assembly by-election at the age of 25, his declared assets were valued at over Rs 750 crore. At 29, he is now seeking a second term on a Congress ticket
from Govindarajanagar in Bangalore. Most curious is the case of former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, now a JD-S nominee from Ramanagaram near Bangalore. His wife Anita Kumaraswamy is the JD-S candidate from Channapatna constituency. Though neither of the two is a realtor or a mine-owner, the couple has total assets of Rs 123 crore.
The super rich
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Mayawati meets Guv, wants President’s Rule
Lucknow, April 19 Referring to reports of criminal activities in the state, Mayawati alleged that there was a complete collapse of the rule of law, which is the primary duty of any government. She claimed that officers had failed to implement the law under political pressure. The worst hit were the Dalits, she added. “Incidents of dacoity, kidnapping and atrocities against women are steadily on the rise. Instead of giving justice to victims, the police refuses to even register an FIR. Constitutional institutions are being forced to settle political scores and are being misused to fulfil political aspirations,” the memorandum charged. The BSP leader drew the Governor’s attention to reports charging the Samajwadi government with selling ministerial posts. “Some of these ministers are not only indulging in criminal activities but are anti-women and had to be dropped due to their sexist remarks. How can such ministers uphold the Constitution?” she said. The memorandum underlined that posts in commissions for SC/STs, minorities and women as well as Urdu academy had been lying vacant for over a year.
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Akhilesh suspends 22 officials
Lucknow, April 19 Among those suspended were four sub-divisional magistrates, four forest department officials, including a divisional forest officer (DFO), a police circle officer and an inspector. Akhilesh ordered the suspension of Aligarh circle officer Arun Kumar Singh, constable Soren Singh and Anil Kumar of the Banna Devi police station after a minor was reportedly raped and murdered, and women protesters were brutally attacked by the police. Further, seven policemen were suspended over the custodial death of a youth at the Hasanganj police station in Lucknow. The youth had reportedly hanged himself inside the police lockup two days ago. Among those suspended was police station SO Mohammad Javed. Criminal cases have also been registered against them by the family members of the deceased. Two sub-inspectors were arrested while a woman constable, Sukhraj Kaur, suspended over negligence in the Afzalgarh area of Bijnore. An FIR was lodged against them. Special Secretary, Small Scale Industries, Shraddha Mishra was suspended for financial irregularities committed during her tenure as Special Secretary, Health, and in charge Director, Ayurveda. The SDMs suspended were: Mahendra Kumar Mishra (Bhatti tehsil), Manoj (Tanda tehsil) of Ambedkar Nagar, Balram Singh (Bindki tehsil) of Fatehpur and Surendra Singh (Nagina tehsil) of Bijnore. — TNS
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Sonia holds 2G strategy meet with senior party leaders
New Delhi, April 19 Defence Minister AK Antony, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who is also the Leader of the Lok Sabha, were present at the meeting. Congress president's political secretary Ahmed Patel and rural development minister Jairam Ramesh also took part in the meeting held a day after the government reached a broad consensus with political parties over the Land Acquistion Bill. The BJP has been demanding resignation of law minister Ashwani Kumar in the wake of recent reports that he summoned the CBI chief and the report on the coal scam was changedand toned down after the meeting. The Congress has rejected the charge of interference in the preparation of the CBI report in
the coal scam for the Supreme Court. "The CBI works independently. There is no pressure of any kind. The Supreme Court has already directed it to file an affidavit. I think anyone making any kind of allegations should wait. Things will get clarified. There is no question of Law Minister's resignation," is the refrain of the Congress. The BJP has been pressing for setting up of a Special Investigation Team to probe alleged government interference in the coal scam report. The leakage of the draft JPC report on the 2G scam has also led to controversy with BJP and CPI dubbing that it has been reduced to a "Congress report". They have stated that they will give their dissent notes separately while alleging that it was a cover-up exercise. — PTI
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Medha Patkar accuses Ajit Pawar of
Rs 27.5-cr graft
Mumbai, April 19 On Thursday, Patkar, quoting from documents “obtained from the Income Tax department”, said a contractor had distributed Rs 43.83 crore among various politicians. She said a sum of Rs 27.5 crore was paid to Ajit Pawar alone while smaller sums were given to others, including BJP leader Gopinath Munde and some bureaucrats. She said the government should order a probe by a retired judge into the case. “In just one branch canal contract of Gosikhurd project, with an estimated cost of Rs 287 crore, Pawar, also referred as Dada or AP, took the largest share of Rs 27.5 crore, almost 10 per cent of the project estimate,” Patkar alleged. She also provided details of a report prepared by the Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, Kolhapur, whose written remarks noted “an unholy nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and contractors, especially in the irrigation sector”. Denying allegations, Pawar said he did not know the contractor at all. “I have nothing to do with these allegations,” Pawar told reporters here today. He also said he was consulting legal experts to sue Patkar. BJP leader Gopinath Munde also denied these allegations saying he did not know the contractor at all.
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Two CRPF jawans hurt in Naxal attack
Raipur, April 19 Sannu Santya was hit by a bullet in his waist while Vinod Meena received hand injuries, he said. The security personnel fired in retaliation but the Naxals managed to escape in the jungles, he said. The two jawans were air-lifted and admitted to a hospital in Jagdalpur
town of Bastar district, he said. — PTI
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Stung by infighting, AP Congress likely to see change of guard
Hyderabad, April 19 According to indications from the Congress camp, PCC Chief B Satyanarayana, who is also a minister, is likely to be replaced as part of the overhaul. A prominent Backward Class leader from the Telangana region and a member of the Legislative Council, D Srinivas, is tipped to take over the party reins ahead of the Assembly elections, scheduled early next year. Following summons from the party high command, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Satyanarayana rushed to Delhi and held a meeting with the AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. Congress sources said the discussions focused on the need to improve the party’s image in the state. The two leaders were said to have briefed Rahul about the political situation in the state and the challenges being faced by the ruling party in the wake of continued political uncertainty over the Telangana statehood issue. The Central leadership is perturbed over the steady decline in the party’s stocks and the failure of the state leadership to check migrations to the fledgling YSR Congress Party, headed by the jailed MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, and to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) which is in the forefront of the statehood movement. Party sources said the high command had given its nod for cabinet reshuffle to enable the Chief Minister to purge his team of the ‘tainted’ ministers who figured in the CBI case pertaining to the alleged illegal assets of Jagan. With the UPA government failing to take any decision so far on the raging demand for separate Telangana state, there is a growing sense of restiveness among the Telangana leaders of Congress. At least three party MPs from the volatile region are said to be planning to quit the Congress and join TRS later this month and many more MPs and MLAs are likely to follow the suit if the Centre fails to announce a favourable decision before the end of budget session of Parliament. Nine Congress legislators had defied the party whip and voted in favour of the no-confidence motion moved by the TRS and the YSR Congress Party in March last. Significantly, all the rebels are sailing with the YSR Congress Party. The government had managed to survive the no-trust motion, thanks to the main Opposition Telugu Desam Party’s decision to abstain from voting. Since the death of the charismatic Congress leader and former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy in a helicopter crash in September 2009, the ruling party has been witnessing a steady erosion of its popular base.
Revamp on cards
* Congress sources said PCC Chief B Satyanarayana, who is also a minister, is likely to be replaced as part of the overhaul *
A prominent Backward Class leader from
the Telangana region D Srinivas is tipped to take over the party reins ahead of the
Assembly elections * Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Satyanarayana rushed to Delhi and held a meeting with the AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi *
The discussions focused on the need to improve the party's image in the state
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NTR continues to hold sway over TN politics
Hyderabad, April 19 The magic of NTR, who had stormed to power in 1983 within nine months of launching the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), is not just confined to the party he had founded but is now spreading to other parties. While the TDP, now headed by NTR’s son-in-law and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, is in the grip of a succession battle over who should inherit the patriarch’s political legacy, the fledgling YSR Congress Party, headed by the jailed MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, is also owning him up and paying public homage to his leadership. Making the matters worse for TDP, the YSR Congress Party has been using banners and posters containing the pictures of not only NTR but also his grandson and popular actor “Junior NTR”. A large number of flexi-boards and banners, containing pictures of the local party leaders along with NTR and Junior NTR, have sprung up in the coastal belt. This has irked the TDP leadership, not just because the legacy of its founder was being “hijacked” by a rival party but also because it exposes the infighting in the first family of TDP over NTR’s legacy. Despite being a member of the TDP, the 29-year-old Junior NTR has been nursing a strained relationship with Naidu and keeping himself away from the party activities. He is the son of N Harikrishna, the mercurial actor-turned-politician and senior TDP leader. The simmering cold war between the two families is directly linked to the reported efforts of Naidu to promote his industrialist-son Nara Lokesh as the successor to the party’s throne. NTR’s actor-son and Naidu’s brother-in-law Harikrishna is peeved over the attempts to anoint Lokesh as the heir to the party’s throne. It is said that Junior NTR, a mass hero in the mould of his illustrious grandfather, is the choice of the NTR family to be declared as the political successor. However, N Balakrishna, another popular actor-son of NTR, is solidly behind the leadership of Naidu, his brother-in-law.
Succession battle
* The TDP, now headed by NTR's son-in-law and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, is in the grip of a succession battle over who should inherit the patriarch's political legacy *
The fledgling YSR Congress Party, headed by the jailed MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, is also owning him up and paying public homage to his leadership. YSR Congress Party has been using banners and posters containing the pictures of not only NTR but also his grandson
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Telugu writer Ravuri Bharadwaja to get Jnanpith award
Hyderabad, April 19 Bharadwaja (87) was chosen for the award by a selection board chaired by noted poet Sitakant Mahapatra, according to a statement issued by the Jnanpith Award committee in Delhi today. Known for his lucid writings without any ideological baggage and austere lifestyle, Bharadwaja has authored over 130 books, including 24 volumes of short stories, nine novels, four plays and five radio plays. He also wrote a number of books for children. “Paakudu Rallu” (Slippery Stones), a graphic account of the life behind the glamour and gloss of the film industry, is considered his magnum opus. His other masterpieces are “Jeevana Samaram” (Life Struggle) and “Inupa Tera Venuka (Behind the iron curtain). “I have no words to express my happiness for getting this recognition. I never imagined, even in the wildest of my dreams, that I will get Jnanpith award. Never did I seek or lobby for any awards,” said the frail author. Recalling his long years of struggle for livelihood and insults hurled at him because of his lack of formal education, Bharadwaja said, “I am happy that some of my works are now the prescribed text books for post-graduate students.” He is the third Telugu writer to win the prestigious Jnanpith award. Legendary poet late Vishwanatha Satyanarayana and lyricist Dr C Narayana Reddy were the other recipients of the award. The honour came to the Telugu literature after a gap of nearly two decades. Born in 1927 at Mogalturu in the coastal district of West Godavari, Bharadwaja later shifted to Tadikonda in Guntur district. Despite lack of formal education, he took to reading with passion and blossomed into a poet, playwright, novelist and a popular science writer. His works, including “Kadambari”, “Pakudurallu”, “Jeevana Samaram”, “Inupa Tera Venuka” and “Koumudi”, have been translated into major Indian languages and also English. He had also received Sahitya Akademi Award, Soviet Land Nehru Award, Balsahitya Parishad Award and Honorary D Litt from Nagarjuna University. He had worked in All India Radio for several years.
A school drop-out
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Editor of Marathi weekly held for molesting minor
Parli Vaijnath, April 19 "We have arrested the accused and registered a case against him under Section 354 (a) of the Indian Penal Code", Parli Town's senior police inspector Hanumant Gaikwad said. The accused, identified as 48-year-old Balasaheb Sopanrao Jagatkar, a resident of Bhim Nagar area of Parli Vaijnath city, allegedly molested his 17-year-old niece residing in his neighbouring house on Wednesday evening, the senior cop said. Reportedly, Jagatkar had asked his niece to fetch him some drinking water and when she entered his house with a glass of water, he allegedly molested her.— PTI
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4 policemen knocked down by speeding car in Mumbai
Mumbai, April 19 The incident took place near the Police Gymkhana on Marine Drive when the driver of the car lost control over the vehicle at the check point. “As the driver attempted to halt the speeding car, it hit a road divider before ramming into the barricade,” a traffic police official said. The mishap took place in the wee hours and the injured were identified as Sainath Dhuri (40), Amol Kal (29), S Thale (57), P Khairnar (30) (all four police constables) and one pedestrian Mubarak Shaikh (35). The injured were taken to a hospital. Dhuri suffered serious injuries under his lower limbs and is likely to undergo an operation in Bombay hospital while the rest were given treatment at G T Hospital before being allowed to leave, the police said. The driver was stopped earlier by the police for checking. The driver of the car, Dinesh Khandekar, was arrested immediately. His blood samples were taken for testing. Three other occupants of the car were also taken to the police station. They may be charged with abetting drunken driving if the driver was found to be under the influence of alcohol. The vehicle is owned by a friend of the accused.
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4 Naxals held in Chhattisgarh
Raipur, April 19 Two ultras, identified as Ohar Singh Jade (27) and Ramesh Nareti (25) were nabbed from the forests of Kodogaon village in Kanker district by a joint contingent of the BSF and district police, they said. The duo were carrying a reward of Rs 2,000 each on their head. In another search operation in Naraynpur district, two Maoists, Ramder (24) and Mishir (22), were apprehended from Basing forest area by a team of local police, the police said. — PTI
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IAF gears up to counter Chinese threat in N-E
New Delhi, April 19 The move aims at countering the growing Chinese threat and to ramp up military infrastructure and defences in the North-East. The project is expected to cost Rs 1,723 crore and is running four years behind schedule. It was originally conceived in 2008 as part of the prime minister special package for the North-East. The scope of work includes expanding the length of British-era mud-paved airfields, termed as advanced landing grounds (ALGs) in IAF terminology. These will be converted into fully-paved concrete runways with regular landing surface allowing more types of planes to land. It will have the latest gadgetry to enable all-weather flying. The expansion will allow operations by planes like the newly acquired C-130-J and the C-17 Globemaster that is to be inducted in the coming weeks. The IAF also looks forward to expanding couple of paved runways built recently. This will facilitate swift movement of forces to the northeastern frontier. The existing mud-paved ALGs are too small in length and allow only very small aircraft to land and have a non-existent ground support. These are rendered unusable during rains. After much delay and hurdles over clearances, the IAF will start analysing bids from companies willing to undertake the project. The bids will close on April 26 and the evaluation will start thereafter. “It is big development for the North-East, we are hopeful of starting work soon,” said a senior IAF functionary. It would be ideal to do some work before rains slow down the pace, he said. The project will cover ALGs at Tuting, Mechuka, Pasighat, Along, Walong, Ziro and Tawang (helipad). A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Arunchal Pradesh Government and the Ministry of Defence in June 2009 for upgrading these ALGs into full-fledged runways. The progress had been slow with work being completed only at Vijaynagar. In November 2012, Defence Minister AK Antony asked the IAF to start work that was originally targeted to begin in mid-2011.
SECURING BORDERS * The move aims at countering the growing Chinese threat *
Military infrastructure in the North-East will be ramped up at a cost of around Rs 1,723 crore *
The plan was originally conceived in 2008, and is already running four years behind schedule
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Defective valves found in tests
Mumbai, Apr 19 The defect in the components of the four valves — there are thousands of such devices in a nuclear reactor— was found during pre-commissioning tests early this year, officials said. “The performances of four valves of a particular type were found deficient," R Bhattacharya, Secretary, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) said. — PTI
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Govt to regulate plant-based drugs to improve global acceptance New Delhi, April 19 Though home to precious botanical extracts, Indian industry hasn’t found it attractive to pharmaceutically process these extracts into “Botanical Drug Products (BDPs)”. Reason: Lack of specific procedures in the Indian drug law to encourage BDP makers to apply for clinical trials and get their products tested for safety and consequently for marketing at home and abroad. That gap is now being bridged with the Central Drug Standards Control Organisation, apex drug regulator, about to amend Drugs and Cosmetics Rules to detail separate regulatory procedures for plant-based drugs, also called (phyto pharmaceuticals, instead of making these go through the same regulations as chemical and biological drugs. Amendments will be made to Schedule Y of the Rules that specifies regulatory requirements drug developers must fulfil for drugs to be certified as safe. A separate chapter will also be added to drug rules to detail regulatory procedures for phyto pharmaceuticals for the benefit of developers. Drug Controller General of India GN Singh told TNS today: “Our phyto pharmaceuticals are not accepted globally because they have not gone through strong regulatory processes required to certify their safety. Current provisions equate plant-based drugs with chemical products which are much more dangerous and must therefore undergo more stringent regulations than phyto pharmaceuticals. But because botanical drugs are also required to undergo the same complex trials as chemical drugs, developers don’t come forward for research. We want to encourage them. We want a Botanical Drug Product blockbuster to emerge from India because we have knowhow.” Currently ayurvedic formulations are being manufactured by industry and these are regulated by a separate council dealing with alternative (AYUSG) medicines. Ayurvedic drugs are different from phyto pharmaceuticals as the latter are processed pharmaceutically using technology and not traditionally as in ayurveda. The United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) was the first to issue “guidance to industry on botanical drugs” paving the way for phyto pharmaceuticals to get a status of drugs and for marketing authorisation. After this approval, the Indian drug regulator notified phyto pharmaceuticals as drugs under the existing rules but didn’t specify any separate regulatory procedure for this category, discouraging developers from coming forward. Among recent BDPs approved by the USFDA are Veregen (called Polyphenon E) and Omacor (Lovaza). While Veregen is a green tea-based product for genital warts caused by HPV strains, Omacor is an omega-3 fatty acid product from fish oil approved for hypertriglyceridemia. Veregen has been licensed to Bradley Pharmaceuticals in the US for marketing by a German Botanical Discovery company MediGene and is more efficacious than earlier used treatments. Among firms that have applied for BDPs approvals to US FDA, most are Chinese. India is waking up only now.
What are phyto pharmaceutical drugs?
Phyto pharmaceutical drugs include processed or unprocessed standardised materials derived from plants in a dosage form for internal or external use of human beings or animals and intended for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of any disease or disorder in human beings or animals but does not include administration by parenteral (other than mouth) route.
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New Delhi, April 19 
Mumbai, April 19
In her three-page memorandum to the Governor, the BSP chief alleged that several members of the Akhilesh Yadav’s ministry and others holding ministerial ranks had criminal background and were indulging in criminal activities.