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Kalyan drops Jadagambika Pal, 2 others, from cabinet

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh today removed three ministers, including Jagadambika Pal, from his council of ministers.

An official spokesperson said that besides Pal, who had unsuccessfully challenged Kalyan Singh, two ministers of state -- Pooran Singh Bundela and Raj Rai Singh -- were dropped. A recommendation to this effect had already been sent to Governor Romesh Bhandari, the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile Uttar Pradesh Minister for Energy and leader of the Loktantrik Congress Naresh Agarwal today said the conspiracy to destablise the Kalyan Singh government was hatched by the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress in Orcha near Jhansi on February 4. He said leaders of these parties had gathered there in connection with a marriage on February 5.

Asked whether he knew about the conspiracy, Agarwal said, "We had some inkling about some disgruntled elements among the ministers belonging to the Loktantrik Congress Party, but we had decided to sort out the problems by talking to Chief Minister Kalyan Singh after the Lok Sabha election was over."

Agarwal reiterated that he and his party colleagues had crossed over to the Jagdambika Pal camp only as part of a "strategy", without which it would not have been possible to persuade back party colleagues who had decided to join the non-BJP government by toppling the Kalyan Singh government.

He emphatically denied that he had struck some sort of a bargain with Kalyan Singh in returning to his camp to support his government. However, he said, "We do want portfolios of some LCP ministers to be changed."

Agarwal announced that he had expelled Jagdambika Pal, Hari Shankar Tiwari and Puran Singh Bundela (all ministers in the Kalyan Singh government before it was dismissed by the governor on February 21) from the party for "indiscipline".

''We have already written to the speaker of the Vidhan Sabha, Kesari Nath Tripathi, informing him of this,'' he said.

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