SP MLA says UP Deputy CM made him leave review meeting, vows legal action

Bahraich (UP), Sep 18 (PTI) Samajwadi Party MLA Anand Yadav on Thursday accused Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya of forcing him out of a review meeting in Bahraich and said that he would move court against the action.

Yadav, who represents the Kaiserganj constituency, told reporters that he was formally invited through an official letter and a phone call to attend the district-level review meeting chaired by Maurya at the Collectorate.

"I had reached the venue before the deputy chief minister arrived. When he saw me seated in the meeting hall, he asked me to sit in the district magistrate's chamber instead. I wanted to raise urgent issues related to my constituency, including the threat of wolves and fishing cats in nearly a dozen villages and other developmental concerns. But he made me leave the meeting," Yadav alleged.

The MLA said it was supposed to be a government review, but felt more like "the deputy chief minister's party meeting." Yadav said he will move court and also raise the issue with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.

Yadav alleged that Maurya was a "criminal-minded deputy chief minister" against whom more than 80 cases were lodged in the past, but he got them withdrawn after coming to power. PTI COR ABN ABN RUK RUK