SP sacks Ram Gopal Yadav, cites BJP links

Ram Gopal Yadav was also sacked from all party posts, state party chief Shivpal Singh Yadav told the media, adding the action had been ordered by party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav

Lucknow, Oct 23: Uttar Pradesh's ruling Samajwadi Party on Sunday expelled its national General Secretary and spokesman Ram Gopal Yadav from the party for six years.

Ram Gopal Yadav was also sacked from all party posts, state party chief Shivpal Singh Yadav told the media, adding the action had been ordered by party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The announcement was greeted by applause by party workers present at the press conference.

Ram Gopal Yadav triggered a fresh controversy in the morning when he released a letter saying that only Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav can lead the party to victory in the coming assembly polls.

[Akhilesh should prove his majority in Assembly or resign: BJP]

He had also said that people opposing the Chief Minister were corrupt and without character.

Shivpal Yadav, who was earlier sacked from the cabinet by Akhilesh Yadav, said that Ram Gopal Yadav had always behaved like a dictator and had now connived with "communal forces" to destabilize and weaken the SP.

"He met a senior BJP leader thrice and is trying to save his son Akshay and daughter-in-law from action by the CBI," Shivpal Yadav said, linking the two family members with a tainted chief engineer of Noida Authority.

He also said that when the earlier BSP government hounded the SP workers, Ram Gopal Yadav never came to their aid.

IANS