Mayawati forced me to resign, says ex-minister

Former state minister for dairy development and animal husbandry Avadhpal Singh Yadav, an accused in a triple murder case and allegedly involved in corrupt practices, had submitted his resignation last month to Mayawati, after being indicted by the state Lokayukta, citing moral grounds.

“I have resigned on moral grounds...my resignation is with the chief minister...it is now up to her to take a decision on it,” the minister, who had stoutly defended himself and refused to tender resignation earlier, had then said. His resignation was later accepted by the state chief minister.

Yadav now says that the decision to ‘sack’ him from the cabinet was ‘one sided’ and ‘arbitrary’ and that he had been ‘forced to resign by the chief minister’ and hence it was ‘illegal’.

Yadav’s candid remarks found mention in the writ petition he has filed in the court, challenging the Lokayukta report.

Taking a serious view of Yadav’s statement, the BSP leadership moved swiftly and suspended him from the party terming his outbursts as an act of ‘indiscipline’. Yadav was the first senior BSP leader to have challenged Mayawati in such a fashion, the party leaders here said.

The Lokayukta had, in a report to Mayawati, asked the government to prosecute the minister under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Zamindari Abolition Act and other relevant sections.