Akhilesh Yadav on Pooja Pal letter: SP cannot trust UP govt, seeks central probe into threats | Lucknow News
NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday responded to a letter while talking to the media from expelled Chail MLA Pooja Pal, saying it was “hard to understand that someone is meeting the CM and having their life threatened by a leader of another party.”“I cannot comprehend this… Here we could be sent to jail. BJP supporters will kill us. If anyone suspects a danger from someone, it should be investigated to identify those individuals within the organisation who pose a threat. This investigation is necessary. We cannot trust the Government of Uttar Pradesh with this. That is why we have written this letter to the Home Minister of the Central Government. We are hopeful that they will ensure justice… For how many years she was with us, then she had no threat from anyone,” Akhilesh Yadav said.
Pooja Pal’s allegations
Days after her expulsion, Pooja Pal shared a letter addressed to Akhilesh Yadav on her X account, accusing the SP chief of strengthening criminal elements within the party by “insulting and deserting her midway.” She claimed her ouster was not only personal but also an attempt to silence voices of the state’s backward classes, Dalits, and economically weaker sections.“My voice against injustice and betrayal! Expulsion from the party is not just about me, but an attempt to suppress the voice of the backwards, Dalit, and poor people of Uttar Pradesh. I have fought and will continue to fight the battle for justice,” she wrote.Pal added that she had joined the SP believing it could deliver justice to the backward community, but her efforts to seek justice for her husband’s murder during the SP government were met with disappointment.
Murder of Raju Pal and Umesh Pal
BSP MLA Raju Pal, Pooja Pal’s husband, was shot dead in Prayagraj in 2005, days after their wedding. In February 2023, Umesh Pal, a key witness to the murder, was also shot dead in Prayagraj’s Sulem Saray area. Pal stressed that it was during the BJP government that the long-overdue justice was delivered.Pooja Pal questioned her expulsion from the SP, reportedly for voting for a BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections, noting that Akhilesh Yadav himself voted for a BJP candidate in the Constitutional Club elections in Delhi just days later. She criticised the SP chief’s “arrogance” for expelling a widow from a backward community.Pal said she was facing severe trolling on social media and life threats, adding that her sole aim of seeking justice for her husband’s murder had been fulfilled. “Now, even if I die, it won’t matter. If anything happens to me, the Samajwadi Party and Akhilesh Yadav should be held responsible,” she said.
