2 UP ministers sacked after earning Mulayam's ire

Days after Mulayam Singh Yadav warned UP ministers to 'mend' their ways, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday sacked two ministers – Anand Singh and Manoj Kumar Paras – for anti-party activities.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday sacked two ministers — Anand Singh and Manoj Kumar Paras — for anti-party activities.

Yadav decided to sack Anand Singh after the agriculture minister’s son, Kirtiwardhan Singh, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party last week. Kirtiwardhan Singh accused the Samajwadi Party’s leadership of corruption before quitting. He also attacked SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and the UP CM at a press conference in Gonda last week.

When asked about the SP’s move to remove him, Anand Singh said, “It is the decision of the party high command. It is Netaji’s (SP chief) party and it is for him to appoint or remove people.”

Paras, elected to the assembly from Nagina, had allegedly been campaigning against the SP’s Lok Sabha candidates from Bijnore, Shahnawaz Rana, and Nagina (reserved), Yashvir.

A 34-year-old woman alleged in 2007 that Paras, not an MLA then, called her to his home on the pretext of helping her husband with business work and raped her. The SP government had withdrawn the case against Paras in January this year.

Paras refused to comment on his dismissal when contacted by HT.