Husband gets justice: Akhilesh sacks MLA for praising Yogi Adityanath

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Pooja Pal was expelled from the party on Thursday, hours after she thanked Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for “delivering justice” in her husband’s mur-der case and praised him for bringing in policies with zero tolerance against criminals.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said Ms Pooja, whose husband Raju Pal was shot dead by gangster Atiq Ah-med in 2005, was “immediately expelled” from the party due to her engagement in “anti-party activ-ities and serious indiscipline which continued despite prior warnings and caused significant harm to the party”. The expulsion created a political uproar with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state ac-cusing the opposition of being “anti-Dalit”.

In his statement in Hindi, Yadav said: “She (Ms Pooja) is no longer permitted to participate in any par-ty programs and will not be invited to them in the future.”

The development came hours after Ms Pooja thanked the Chief Minister for “listening to her when no one else did” over her husband’s murder. Former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal was shot dead on January 25, 2005, days after he married Ms Pooja. The murder, police said, was a result of political rivalry with gangster Atiq Ahmed’s brother Ashraf, whom Raju had defeated in the 2004 bypoll to the Prayagraj West seat. In February 2023, Umesh Pal, a key witness in the murder case, was shot dead in Prayagraj’s Sulem Saray area.

Days later, Atiq and Ashraf - both of whom were arrested - were shot dead by three men when they were being taken for a medical check-up in Prayagraj. Atiq was shot in the head from behind, nearly at point-blank range. Ashraf, too, was shot dead, as the murder was captured on camera. This came days after Atiq’s son Asad was killed in an alleged encounter in Jhansi. All three men were later ar-rested.