Modi aftershocks: Senior SP leader quits party

Alleges Azam Khan running UP govt

Even as the dust around the Lok Sabha poll debacle is yet to settle, the ruling Samajwadi Party continues to experience aftershocks.

A day after the party dissolved its Uttar Pradesh unit and all frontal organisations, a senior SP leader today quit party openly revolting against cabinet minister Azam Khan.

SP general secretary Anuradha Chaudhary sent her resignation to party president Mulayam Singh Yadav alleging Khan was running the government in western UP and sabotaging the party.

She blamed Khan's alleged communal overtones on the Kargil war for the polarisation of votes that ultimately harmed the party's poll prospects.

She noted Khan, who is considered number 2 in the Akhilesh Yadav dispensation in the state, was responsible for the party's dismal poll performance, where it won just 5 seats compared to 23 in 2009.

"Azam Khan is working against the interests of the party and wants to destroy it to avenge his ouster from the party in the past," she claimed.

Earlier, the party had sacked 36 party leaders holding ministerial ranks for the poll drubbing. Chaudhary was one amongst them.

In fact, the party had denied a Lok Sabha ticket to her from Bijnor. Nonetheless, the party lost the election from the seat as well.

Chaudhary was earlier a close confidante of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh. However, she quit RLD and joined SP becoming the party's national general secretary.

During the SP-RLD regime headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav regime (2004-07) in UP, she was the cabinet minister for irrigation.

Meanwhile, more heads are likely to roll in SP as they party takes stock of the defeat fixing responsibility on senior leaders and ministers.