IAS officer glorified as 'Durgaji' by media: SP's Azam Khan

Accusing the media of glorifying suspended Indian Administrative Service officer Durga Shakti  Nagpal as "Durgaji", senior Uttar Pradesh minister Mohd Azam Khan said her case was highlighted while other such suspensions went unnoticed.

"The media has projected Durga as Durgaji. Otherwise in such cases, officers from the level of managing director to chief engineer get suspended and not even a single line is published," Azam, who was in on a private visit, told reporters on Thursday night.

The minister said the issue of Nagpal's suspension has been blown out of proportion by the television news media and added that there would have been no dispute if the district magistrate had also been suspended.

On being asked about the statements made by Samajwadi Party leaders on running the state without IAS officers, he said the number of such officers would be 1,000 to 2,000, but the country was of 125 crore people.

"Can't other people run the country," he said. He also said that the civil service system in the country should be done away with as it was given by the Britishers and does not even exist even in their own country.

Hitting out at the Congress, Azam said the level of the party has stooped so low that its president Sonia Gandhi was writing a letter for a sub-divisional magistrate. Regarding reports claiming that UP Chief Minister Akhilesh

Yadav was in darkness over Nagpal's suspension, Azam blamed the district magistrate of not giving a clear picture to the CM and keeping him ignorant of the real situation.

Attacking the Bahujan Samaj Party, the minister said the party, which wants division of the state could make it an issue. Azam also described the Bharatiya Janata Party as a party of dual character.

When asked to comment on the killing of the Indian soldier along the Line of Control in Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir, Azam said it was due to the weakness of foreign policy. From the creation of a separate Telangana state to the Food Security Bill, he accused the Congress of doing politics by judging its gains and losses.