UP CM Akhilesh Yadav sacks 36 Samajwadi party leaders
Those dismissed held posts in corporations and councils and enjoyed ministerial status
By : amita verma
Update: 2014-05-21 02:47 GMT
Lucknow: UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday dismissed 36 party leaders from ministerial posts a day after SP boss Mulayam Singh Yadav held a meeting of candidates to discuss the poll debacle, where almost all blamed it on “internal sabotage”. The candidates said some party leaders had worked against them.
A senior SP leader said some Akhilesh government ministers could also be given marching orders. Those dismissed Tuesday held posts in corporations and councils and enjoyed ministerial status. In an informal chat with reporters, Akhilesh Yadav ruled out resigning as CM and said the party’s failure was being reviewed.
“The political equations of all states are different, and one state cannot be compared to another,” he said when asked if he would follow Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s example and resign.
BSP supremo Mayawati, meanwhile, dissolved all party units at Assembly, district and state levels on Tuesday. The BSP could not win a single seat in the Lok Sabha.
For the first time in the BSP’s history, voices of dissent were heard loud and clear as party workers raised slogans and posters against the leadership, including Mayawati.
Highly-placed sources said, meanwhile, the 36 SP leaders stripped of their posts Tuesday include Narendra Bhati and K.C. Pandey. Mr Bhati was instrumental in getting IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal suspended last year when she tried to stop illegal mining in Greater Noida. Mr Bhati has business interests in mining and was seen in a video boasting how he got her suspended in minutes.
Mr Pandey, on the other hand, hit the headlines when he was caught in a sting operation offering money to Gonda district’s SSP to allow cattle smuggling across borders