Days after Mulayam Singh Yadav warned UP ministers to "mend" their ways or face the sack, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday removed Anand Kumar Singh and Manoj Paras from his ministry apparently as they had earned the ire of the Samajwadi Party supremo.
While Singh was a cabinet minister with Agriculture portfolio, Paras was a minister of state with stamp and civil defence departments.
Party sources said Anand Singh had been dismissed as his son and former MP Kirti Vardhan Singh quit the Samajwadi Party and joined the BJP last week.
Kirti Vardhan had also alleged before the media that even as an MP, he had had to pay bribes to Mulayam's staff in 2004 to meet the SP chief.
Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav had expressed his anger at a public function three days ago when he said that those who were betraying the party would not be allowed to continue as ministers.
The party sources said minister of state Manoj Paras had been sacked as he was not only opposing the party's official candidate for the Nagina Lok Sabha seat but had also been lobbying for a BJP ticket for one of his family members.
Interestingly, Manoj Paras is facing a rape charge in his home district and in January this year, the state government had asked the law department to examine if the case could be withdrawn.
The government went on the back foot after the media widely reported the issue.
While the chief minister has dismissed two ministers whose kin have joined hands with opposition parties, another cabinet minister Manoj Pandey has been spared.
The minister's sister-in-law, Bharti Pandey joined the BJP two days ago, causing considerable embarrassment to the minister who is also the Brahmin face of the Samajwadi Party now.
Party sources say Mulayam has warned that more ministers could be axed if found indulging in any kind of anti-party activity.
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