Keshav Prasad Maurya flays SP over Pooja Pal's ouster

Lucknow/Etawah/Bareilly, Aug 15 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Friday hit out at Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav over the expulsion of party MLA Pooja Pal, calling him the "real enemy of backward classes".

Maurya also accused the SP of wanting the backward community to remain subservient to the "Saifai family".

Pal, the MLA from Chail in the Kaushambi district, was expelled from the SP on Thursday, just hours after she praised Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the Assembly for "putting to dust" gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, who was accused of murdering her husband Raju Pal in 2005.

In a post on X, Maurya said, "SP 'Bahadur' Akhilesh Yadav and the Samajwadi Party are the real enemies of the backward classes, who want them to remain slaves of the Saifai family. MLA Pooja Pal, widow of late MLA Raju Pal, knows the pain of SP's anarchic rule. SP regime = synonym of murder, loot, terror. Yogi ji's BJP government = zero tolerance, symbol of effective law and order." During the 24-hour special discussion on 'Vision 2047' in the ongoing Monsoon Session, Pal had said that the present government's anti-crime policies had brought her husband's killers to the ground. "The chief minister has done the work of turning my husband's murderer Atiq Ahmed into dust. The chief minister saw my hidden tears which no one saw for years," she told the House.

Raju Pal was killed in 2005, nine days after his wedding. Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were named as accused in the case. The duo were shot dead in April 2023 in Prayagraj while in police custody.

SP national general secretary Shivpal Singh Yadav defended Pal's expulsion, saying she had contested on the party's symbol and should have abided by its discipline.

"She committed an act against the party and broke discipline. Now, she will never become an MLA again, just like Keshav Prasad Maurya, who lost both the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The same will happen to her," Shivpal said in Etawah on Friday.

In Bareilly, state Cabinet Minister Dharampal Singh termed Pal's expulsion an act of promoting crime and criminals.

"The MLA said in the House that Yogi recognised her hidden tears and turned Atiq into dust. Just for saying this, Akhilesh expelled her. In 2027, the public will give a befitting reply to this decision," he said.

Singh added that if Pooja Pal chooses to join the BJP, "she will be welcomed." PTI COR KIS MNK MNK