Uttar Pradesh contemplating withdrawal of criminal cases against ministers, BJP MLAs

Apparently stung by conviction of one of its ministers and issuance of NBW against another, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is contemplating withdrawal of criminal cases against the ministers and ruling party legislators.

According to the sources, the process of withdrawal of criminal cases could soon be initiated after consultation with the law department. ''Only politically motivated cases will be withdrawn......serious cases will not be withdrawn.....many of the cases against the ministers and party legislators were lodged during the governments of the opposition parties,'' said a senior BJP leader while speaking to DH here.

Read | 32% of UP MLCs have criminal cases: ADR

The leader claimed that a majority of cases were ''politically motivated'' and there was nothing wrong in withdrawing them. He said that criminal cases had also been withdrawn against ministers and ruling party MLAs by the previous BSP and Samajwadi Party (SP) governments.

Of the 52 ministers in the UP cabinet, as many as 22 had criminal cases pending against them. A majority of them faced criminal cases in which they could get five-year prison terms if convicted. More than half of the 403 MLAs in the state assembly faced criminal cases. The ministers who faced criminal cases included deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Yogendra Upadhyaya, Dharmpal Singh Nand Gopal Nandy and some others.

The state government had faced attacks from the opposition parties over the conviction of minister for micro, small and medium enterprises Rakesh Sachan under Arms Act by a Kanpur court and the issuance of NBW against minister and BJP's alliance partner Nishad Party's president Sanjay Nishad.

The SP and the Congress demanded immediate sacking of the ministers.