Close on the heels of an attack on UP minister Nand Gopal “Nandy” in Allahabad in which two persons were killed, a Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Anil Yadav was sprayed with bullets in Ghazipur district.

Yadav was shot dead by unidentified assailants while he was on his way home after meeting some friends in the Nandganj area on Thursday night, police said here. According to the police, the killing of Yadav, who was also the manager of a school, could be the fall out of a political rivalry.

Incidentally, Anil Yadav is the third SP leader killed in the last few days. Only recently former SP legislator Kapil Deo Yadav was shot dead allegedly by his political opponents in Mau district. Another SP leader Sriram Yadav was also killed in Mirzapur district.

Chief Minister Mayawati may be maintaining a brave face and claiming that everything was all right on the law and order front, but the spate of political killings and the attack on one of her cabinet colleagues had definitely given the opposition an opportunity to attack her.
The opposition parties— the Congress, SP and BJP—have alleged that the present dispensation has been sheltering criminals and turning a blind eye to their deeds.