Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government’s education department has distributed thousands of school bags bearing former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s picture to newly-enrolled students in government-run primary schools in Chhota Udaipur.
As the picture of school bags went viral on social media, the State has ordered a probe to find out how the bags landed in Gujarat and which agency procured them.
According to district primary education officer Mahesh Prajapati, the district panchayat had procured 12,000 bags through an e-tender from a Surat-based company as part of the State’s annual school enrolment drive. The agency had pasted stickers on the bags, but when the students removed the stickers, the large smiling image of Mr. Yadav came out.
According to sources, the bags were originally manufactured for the Samajwadi Party government, and were apparently recycled to be distributed in Gujarat by hiding Mr. Yadav’s image.
