UP CM sacks Shivpal Yadav from his Cabinet, new low in SP

Crisis hit a new low in ruling Samajwadi Party with UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today taking the extreme step of sacking Shivpal Singh Yadav from his Cabinet.
"The CM has sacked Shivpal Yadav from his Cabinet. Some more pro-Amar Singh ministers are likely to be dropped," party sources said.
The party sources said that four more ministers and some
persons enjoying the rank of minister of state, who are from the Amar Singh camp, are also likely to be sacked.
The SP chief had yesterday expelled MLC Udayveer Singh, one of the closest aides of Akhilesh, from the party for "undignified" conduct days after he wrote to Mulayam suggesting to him to elevate the UP CM as the party's national president.

The decision to expel Udayveer was taken after the inaugural meeting of the executive committee of SP's Uttar Pradesh unit adopted a resolution seeking action against him for his "derogatory" comments against Mulayam.

"Udayveer Singh has been expelled from the party for six years for his undignified and indisciplined behaviour," state party spokesman Ambika Chaudhary had said.
"The party will not tolerate undignified behaviour and indiscipline. It has reached where it is in 25 years because of discipline," Chaudhary had said.
In the four-page letter to the party supremo earlier this week, Udayveer had said, "SP state president Shivpal Yadav and other members of his family have misled you (Mulayam) and hatched a conspiracy against CM Akhilesh, who should be made party national president and given all the powers."

Udayveer, whose association with Akhilesh is over three decades old, with both studying in school together, had reportedly also made some comments about Mulayam's second wife and Chief Minister's step mother, which angered the SP's first family.
Reacting to the development, Udayveer had said he had only put before Mulayam his thoughts about the "conspiracy" against the Chief Minister.
Gaurav Bhatia, SP spokesman, had said Singh had crossed the "Lakshman rekha" in choosing the words he wrote in his letter to Mulayam which also hurt party workers.
"Questioning the leadership of Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is an elected president of the party, was wrong. An MLC cannot dictate who the party president will be. Anybody committing an act of indiscipline has to be punished and this is what has happened," he had said.