SP suspends another MLA

LUCKNOW: Cracking the whip against dissidents, the Samajwadi Party on Monday suspended its sitting MLA from Sitapur, Ram Pal Yadav, and expelled his son Jitendra Yadav for anti-party activities. The action was initiated by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who is also SP’s state president, on charges that the MLA son had filed his nomination for the district panchayat chairman's post against the party nominated candidate.
Last week, party president Mulayam Singh Yadav suspended Bijnor MLA Ruchi Veera and expelled her husband Udayan on similar grounds. Udayan is contesting for the post of district panchayat chairman against the party nominated candidate Neelam Paras, wife of Manoj Paras, the SP MLA from Nagina. The party chief also showed the door to Yashveer Singh, former MP from Nagina, former Bijnor district president Jamil Ansari and chairman Sheikh Khalil-ur-Rehman.
In Sitapur, Ram Pal's wife Shanti Devi and son Jitendra had filed nominations for the polls for zila panchayat chairman slated to be held on January 7. While Shanti Devi walked out of the contest on Monday - the last day for withdrawal of nominations, her son refused to relent. The party has fielded Seema Gupta as the official candidate. Seema’s husband Shivkumar Gupta was earlier in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Akhilesh's close aide Anand Bhadauria - who was recently expelled from the party by SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav along with Sunil Singh ‘Sajan’, another key member of team Akhilesh - also hails from Sitapur. Their sacking was revoked last Friday after they pleaded innocence before the party chief.
Elsewhere, former zila panchayat head of Kushinagar, Pradip Kumar Jaiswal, was served a three-day show cause notice for anti-party activities and indiscipline. Two other senior leaders in Gorakhpur, Kalishankar Yadav and Ramesh Yadav were also dismissed recently, while many others were served show cause notice.