Finally waking up to the unabated indiscipline in his party rank and file leading to spate of violent incidents, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday issued a terse warning to the newly-appointed members of his son Akhilesh Yadav's ministry, telling them to behave.
His reaction came after half a dozen lives were lost in the violence that marred the celebrations observed by the supporters of different ministers in their respective political constituencies in different parts of the state.
Among the dead was a 9-year-old boy, who fell victim to a bullet during indiscriminate firing by jubilant supporters of cabinet minister Mehboob Ali in Moradabad district shortly after his induction in the Akhilesh cabinet. Besides, a teenager was gunned down in Firozabad, two in Agra, one in Banda and one in Kanpur.
The Kanpur killing involved the lynching of an 18-year-old taxi driver by SP goons who objected to parking of the taxi in front of an SP activist's roadside 'dhaba' (restaurant). What had made things worse was the police bid to twist the case as one of suicide.
Alarmed by the widespread criticism over the killings, Mulayam decided to summon all newly-appointed ministers to a closed-door meeting at the SP headquarters in Lucknow Tuesday.
While the two-and-a-half hour long meeting was kept out of bounds for the media, insiders disclosed that the Samajwadi Party supremo expressed deep concern over the violence resorted to by exuberant partymen.
The incidents clearly revived the dark memories of Mulayam's part regimes that were marred by poor law and order.
Besides urging the ministers to shun violence, Mulayam also surprisingly made it loud and clear to all and sundry that he would not tolerate any kind of corruption.
"We will not spare anyone found indulging in corrupt activities," he said, adding, "Remember, you have to deliver by ensuring development at all costs."
Significantly, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan, the senior-most member of his cabinet, also addressed the ministers, essentially echoing the same sentiment of shunning any kind of indiscipline.
Meanwhile, in his bid to send the message loud and clear that the party bigwigs meant business, Akhilesh expelled about seven more partymen from the party's Kanpur unit in connection with Monday's violence.
