Akhilesh sacks minister behind merger with Mukhtar Ansari's party

In a late night development, apparently a fall-out of the merger of the Quami Ekta Dal (QED) with the ruling Samajwadi party (SP), Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav sacked his cabinet colleague Balram Yadav, said to be instrumental in the decision.

Sources close to the chief minister told IANS that while he was miffed at the "ongoing parleys" between his party leaders and the party of don-turned-politician Mukhtaar Ansari, he decided to sack the Secondary Education Minister when the merger was sealed.

The development also points at chinks in the party leadership as PWD Minister and Akhilesh's uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav was present at the merger event earlier in the state capital on Tuesday. Sources say the chief minister was unhappy at the merger as it would "portray the party in bad light" in the run up to the state assembly polls, scheduled for early 2017.

A close aide also told IANS that the Chief Minister would soon be rejigging his cabinet and leaders like Sharda Prasad Shukla, Ravidas Mehrotra and Sangram Singh would be made ministers.

Mehrotra, an old party hand is said to be unhappy with the leadership on innumerable counts and there are rumours of Shukla going "too close for comfort" with the BJP.

--IANS

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