SP's purge: 36 leaders sacked but Akhilesh won't quit

The chief minister who today presided over the first cabinet meeting after the completion of the polls said the reasons behind his SP's poor show are being reviewed in detail by the party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.  

Prominent among those who have been removed are Narendra Bhati and Surendra Mohan Agarwal, who had tasted defeat in Gautam Buddh Nagar and Kanpur seats respectively, RLD turncoat Anuradha Chowdhury, traders' body leader Sandeep Bansal, former Agra Mayor Anjula Mahaur, Surabhi Shukla, Ranjana Bajpai KC Pandey, Kamlesh Pathak, Ashu Malik, Satish Dixit and Manoj Rai.

Those from the minority community included Anis Mansori, Mohammad Abbas, Iqbal Ali, Haji Iqram and Kamruddin, they added.

Raja Chaturvedi and Ram Singh Rana, former student leaders, were also sacked.