Cracking the whip on Ministers taking an anti-party line, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has sacked two colleagues. Even as the government preferred not to divulge the reason for the action, it is learnt that Agriculture Minister Anand Singh and Minister of State for Stamp and Registration Manoj Kumar Paras. have paid the price for working against the interests of the ruling Samajwadi Party, with the Lok Sabha election just a month away.
Mr. Singh, a senior minister, is the MLA from Gaura in Gonda district. His son Kirti Vardhan Singh, a former MP from Gonda, joined the BJP recently, and is likely to be fielded there.
Mr. Kirti Vardhan Singh was unhappy that his claims were overlooked by the SP, which fielded Garima Shukla in Gonda. He alleged that he had been denied the ticket for taking on the powerful cattle mafia in the district, and that power was concentrated in a particular family.
His rebellion purportedly made things difficult for his father. Ironically, at a function at the Chief Minister’s residence here on March 4 to mark the signing of power purchase agreements and foundation laying for two agricultural universities’, Mr. Anand Singh lashed out at the BJP prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi. He even quoted official figures to dismiss Mr. Modi’s claims that Gujarat was more developed than Uttar Pradesh.
SP president Mulayam Singh, who attended the function, slammed ministers for working against the party. Without taking names, he warned ministers that they would not remain in office, if they cheated him.
As for Mr. Paras, MLA from Nagina in Bijnor district, sources said he was working against the SP candidate from Bijnor. The leadership was keeping a close watch on his activities and action was taken at the appropriate time, the sources said.
Bijnor goes to the polls in the first phase on April 10.
