Uttar Pradesh: Shivpal's fresh attack at Akhilesh Yadav, says he was sacked for opposing illegal work

SAMBHAL (UP): In yet another salvo at nephew and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, ruling Samajwadi Party's state unit president Shivpal Yadav today said he was dropped from the ministry as he had opposed those doing illegal work. "I had protested those doing illegal work and land grabbing. That is why I am out of the ministry," he said. Shivpal was sacked by Akhilesh from his ministry last month amid unprecedented crisis in the ruling party and the Yadav clan. "I will continue to raise my voice against those doing illegal works and am always with those who are doing good work -- be it religious or anything else," he said at Kalki Mahotsava here. Shivpal, the younger brother of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, has been at loggerheads with Akhilesh and two have sparred publicly in the recent past. On October 23, Akhilesh sacked Shivpal along with three other pro-Amar Singh ministers, pushing the ruling party to the brink of a split. The action stirred a political crisis in the party ahead of the Assembly polls in the state early next year as the tense stand-off between Akhilesh and Shivpal gave rise to intense speculation about a possible split in SP.