Lucknow : After the fiasco over merger of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s Quami Ekta Dal (QED), senior Samajwadi Party leader and minister Shivpal Yadav on Monday said there is “no place for criminals in our party” and insisted that there was no rift in his party over the issue.
Significantly, Shivpal, the brother of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav who had last week announced the merger of QED with his party before it was called off, was conspicuous by his absence at the oath-taking ceremony this morning when Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav expanded his Council of Ministers. He was said to be sulking after the party’s parliamentary board decided on Saturday last to call off the merger following unhappiness expressed by Akhilesh besides criticism by other parties, reports PTI.
“There is no place of criminals in our party,” Shivpal said at an event here.
“As far as issue of Mukhtar Ansari is concerned, our party had never taken him. We had taken Afzal Ansari and his MLA brother (Sigbatullaha Ansari). But, but it is all the media’s game. They never showed it and took only Mukhtar’s name. I ask you (media) not to give importance to criminal elements,” he said.
