SP axes 36 leaders; Maya dissolves party panels

Lucknow: After Nitish Kumar resigning as Bihar chief minister, the BJP's landslide win in Lok Sabha polls claimed new casualties in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, with 36 SP leaders having Minister of State (MoS) status in the State government being sacked and BSP chief Mayawati scrapping all party units.

Stung by Samajwadi Party's rout at the polls, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav gave marching orders to 36 leaders of MoS rank as part of political appointments. Yadav, however, ruled out his resignation.

SP sources said six leaders from the minority community were among those who got the axe. Amid demands for his resignation, Akhilesh, however, indicated that he was in no mood to quit and said reasons behind SP's poor show were being reviewed. He was speaking after presiding over the first State Cabinet meeting in the aftermath of the poll results.

JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar resigned as Chief Minister last Saturday taking responsibility for the party's rout in Bihar.

Mayawati, who reviewed the BSP's performance with office-bearers and leaders at a meeting at the party office here, dissolved all the assembly, district and state-level committees of the party, BSP sources said.

BSP, which had 20 MPs in the last Lok Sabha, failed to open its account. The party chief would now be reorganising all the committees after taking stock of the ground situation, the sources said.

Sources said BSP coordinators have been accused of misinforming the party chief about the Lok Sabha preparations and the mood of the public.