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Samajwadi Party expels 3 MLAs over a year after ‘cross-voting' in Rajya Sabha polls
More than a year after several Samajwadi Party MLAs allegedly cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha elections, the party on Sunday expelled three of them — Abhay Singh (Gosaiganj, Ayodhya), Rakesh Pratap Singh (Gauriganj, Amethi), and Manoj Kumar Pandey (Unchahar, Rae Bareli), a former Chief Whip in the Assembly — for 'supporting a divisive and communal' ideology, which the party said was contrary to its 'harmonious socialist ideology'.
The SP in a statement said the three had been given a 'grace period' in the hope that they would have a 'change of heart', which, it said, has ended.
In Uttar Pradesh's Rajya Sabha polls held in February last year, seven SP MLAs voted in favour of BJP and NDA-backed candidates, and many of them had since been seen attending BJP events and meeting senior party leaders. On Sunday, while taking action against three, the SP warned the remaining four, stating that no action had been taken against them yet 'because of their good conduct'.
'Samajwadi Party, in the public interest, expels the… MLAs due to their communal, divisive, negative ideology and supporting anti-farmer, anti-women, anti-youth, anti-business, anti-working professionals as well as 'anti-PDA' ideology, as opposed to the politics of harmonious, positive, socialist ideology,' the party said in its statement.
It further warned that there would be 'no place for 'jan virodhi' (anti-people) leaders' in the future, and that any 'activities against the basic ideology of the party' would be treated as 'unpardonable'.
According to sources, last month, Abhay Singh, Rakesh Pratap Singh, and Vinod Chaturvedi had also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi, along with BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Seth.
Among those expelled, Manoj Kumar Pandey (57) is a three-time MLA from Unchahar and was once considered close to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav. He had also served as a cabinet minister during the previous SP government in the state. He was removed as Chief Whip in the Assembly after the Rajya Sabha cross-voting incident, and has since reportedly been supporting the BJP, including during the last Lok Sabha elections.
Abhay Singh (50), a second-term MLA from Gosaiganj in Ayodhya, is known as a muscleman-turned-politician and is considered close to another strongman and former minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, who now heads the Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik).
Rakesh Pratap Singh (48) is a three-time MLA from Gauriganj in Amethi. He too had rebelled during the Rajya Sabha polls and has since publicly backed the BJP.
