Expelled Samajwadi Party (SP) legislator Pooja Pal has sharply criticised party chief Akhilesh Yadav in a strongly worded letter, questioning the double standards behind her removal from the party. Pal, an MLA from Uttar Pradesh, was recently ousted after she praised Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and allegedly voted for a BJP Rajya Sabha candidate. In her open letter, Pal accused Yadav of punishing her while overlooking similar actions taken by senior party leaders and even his own family.
‘Why my punishment, but not yours?’: Pal
Pal wrote that if her expulsion was because she voted for a BJP candidate, then Yadav himself must be questioned for having supported BJP nominees in Delhi’s Constitutional Club elections, along with his wife. “If you can vote for BJP candidates, why is it a crime when I did the same? Is it only arrogance that makes you see guilt in a widow, from an extremely backward community, but not in your own family?” she asked.
‘Dalits and OBCs are secondary in SP’: Pooja Pal
The legislator alleged that within the SP, Dalits, OBCs and EBCs are treated as second-class citizens, while Muslims, regardless of their criminal backgrounds, are elevated. She said she had initially joined the SP with faith that Yadav would fight for justice against her husband’s killers, but was left disillusioned when the party allegedly sided with those accused.
“I realised soon that in Samajwadi Party, the first priority is always to give respect and strength to criminals if they happen to be Muslim,” she wrote.
‘BJP delivered justice’
Pal compared Yadav’s alleged biases with the BJP, saying that under Adityanath’s rule, her husband’s killers were punished. “Unlike SP, BJP ensured criminals faced justice,” she said, adding that this restored her faith in the ruling party’s commitment to law and order.
Recalling husband’s murder case
In a deeply emotional section, Pal recalled her husband’s brutal murder, claiming he was killed simply for winning an election. She alleged that the killers, including gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed, were shielded by SP leaders. “Even in death, I was denied my husband’s body for a proper last rite by the SP government of the time,” she alleged.
Pal said she endured personal tragedies and threats but never bowed before the mafia. “Akhilesh Yadav may have bent before criminals like Atiq, but I have never done so,” she asserted.
Warning of threat to her own life
The expelled MLA alleged that SP workers frequently abused her on social media and even issued death threats. She ended her letter with a chilling statement that if she too were to be killed, responsibility should be fixed on the Samajwadi Party and Akhilesh Yadav directly.
The political fallout
Pooja Pal’s expulsion and explosive allegations add to tensions within the Samajwadi Party just months ahead of local elections. Her claims of caste bias, political hypocrisy, and tacit support for criminal elements are likely to fuel the ruling BJP’s attacks on SP’s credibility.
