3 min readUpdated: May 30, 2026 09:56 AM IST
Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav and Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak took swipes at each other as Yadav compared Pathak with “a journalist playing interview-interview” and called him a “failed health minister” while the latter claimed it was an insult to the journalist fraternity.
It all began when Pathak on Thursday posted glimpses of a video on Facebook of his interaction with his ministerial colleague Narendra Kashyap, who is also the state president of the BJP’s Backward Morcha. The interaction between the two ministers was in a question-answer format.
The questions in the interaction mostly targeted the Samajwadi Party and its PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) plank. While Pathak mentions BR Ambedkar’s ideology to attack the Opposition party, Kashyap, an OBC, talked about their party’s “focus on the welfare of backwards” and “SP’s false claims”.
Soon after the video was shared, Akhilesh reacted sharply on X, saying, “Jo swasthya mantri ke roop me saabit ho gaye bekaar, ab wo ban gaye patrakar. kyonki samay bitane ke liye karna hai kuch kaam. Sarkar, sangathan, dal me to pahle hi hue nakaam (the one who has proved ineffective as a health minister, has become a journalist now. One must have something to do to pass time). He was already a failure in government, organisation and the party).”
“People of the state are in deep stress due to lack of electricity and are suffering because of illnesses, the BJP ministers are enjoying summer vacations conducting interviews. The deputy (CM) will again be scolded. It’s extremely childish),” he added.
Reacting to Akhilesh’s comments, Pathak responded with a post on X, calling it an “insult to journalists, saying the SP ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia was also an editor of Hindi and English magazines.
“Being a journalist is a matter of pride. Our journalists are dedicated foot soldiers of our society. Calling them idle is an insult to all journalists and hardworking people. Ask our journalist friends how much intellect and hard work goes into conducting a meaningful interview. Those with a sense of entitlement will dislike hardworking people. Those who are traders of lies will dislike such interactions,” the BJP leader claimed.
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“As health minister, I am improving public health to the best of my ability, and as a political worker, I am fulfilling my public duty by continuing dialogue,” he concluded.
Of late, Yadav has taken potshots on the photographs shared by Deputy CMs Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya on social media platforms.
