Akhilesh sacks 36 senior SP leaders

The fallout of the Samajwadi Party’s (SP) shocking defeat in Uttar Pradesh in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls became apparent on Tuesday with the sacking of as many as 36 senior leaders who enjoyed the status of ministers.

Those sacked included Narendra Bhati, who had shot into limelight after he had bragged that the woman IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal had been suspended by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on his prodding.

Former Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) MP Anuradha Chaudhary, who was made chairperson of the state science and technology council and granted status of minister, was also sacked following dismal performance of the SP nominees in  western UP. There were 100 such ministers in the state.

SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav had already warned before the polls that those holding the post of ministers would be held responsible if the party nominees lost from their areas.

Mulayam had also said that the leaders, who had been made presidents and chairpersons of public corporations and other government bodies and given status of ministers of state, would also be taken to task in the event of defeat of the party nominees from their respective areas.

According to sources, some more leaders, who enjoy status of ministers, may be axed in the days to come. “The party will also review the performance of SP nominees in the Assembly constituencies of the ministers...action may be taken against them also,” said a senior SP leader told Deccan Herald.

The SP had fielded five ministers in the polls besides Assembly speaker Mata Prasad Pandey. The ministers, who were in the fray, included Paras Nath Yadav from Jaunpur, Shahid Manzor from Meerut, Vinod Kumar Singh from Kaiserganj, Kailash Chaurasia from Varanasi and Surendra Patel from Mirzapur. All of them lost.

The party could win only five seats, including the two seats from where Mulayam had contested.