Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, while speaking on the codeine syrup controversy at a press conference on Saturday, claimed that the racket had started from the Prime Minister’s constituency.
Akhilesh Yadav said, “The Chief Minister of the state lies, and the people standing with him also lie. You cannot even imagine that illegal cough syrup business is going on from the Prime Minister’s parliamentary constituency…and it is worth thousands of crores. This is an international issue.”
He alleged that the racket was much bigger than anticipated and called for bulldozer-like action against all “mafias” associated with the Samajwadi Party, calling all those involved in the trade “codeine bhaiyas”.
“This is not a case of Rs 100 or Rs 200 crore. As per what is being heard, around 700 companies are involved in this and the value of the transactions is several thousand crores of rupees,” he said.
Akhilesh Yadav read out several news headlines narrating the developments in the cough syrup racket and accused the BJP of hiding important facts, saying the BJP government was selectively using images to blame the Samajwadi Party.
He asked the BJP government, “If standing in a photograph makes someone a mafia, then I too have photographs with the Chief Minister, both the Deputy Chief Ministers and many BJP leaders. If my and the Chief Minister’s photographs are seen together, who will be called mafia?”
These comments of Akhilesh Yadav come after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath made a sharp attack on the Samajwadi Party, in which he had said in the context of the codeine cough syrup smuggling case that the party is linked to every mafia.
He said, “Everyone knows that almost every mafia in the state has links with the Samajwadi Party. Preliminary investigation has revealed the fact that some of the accused caught in the action of STF or Uttar Pradesh Police are linked to the Samajwadi Party.”
He further said, “The Samajwadi Party, which is already infamous for its functioning, will also be exposed for its complicity in this entire matter.”
He further said that strict action has been taken in the case of illegal smuggling of cough syrup. Along with Uttar Pradesh government and police, NDPS, STF and FSDA are also investigating the case.
“The action was taken following complaints of poisonous cough medicines being sold at various places. There were also reports of illegal smuggling of medicines in Uttar Pradesh,” the Chief Minister said.
Yogi Adityanath said that codeine phosphate is a narcotic substance under the NDPS Act. It is used in the manufacture of cough syrup containing codeine, which is used to treat severe cough. Its quota and allocation is made by the Central Narcotics Bureau only for authorized drug manufacturing.
He said that in many places this cough syrup is being misused as a drug.
