Lucknow: In a dramatic political turn, the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Thursday expelled its Chail MLA Pooja Pal, just hours after she publicly praised Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for his “zero tolerance policy” against crime.
The expulsion letter issued by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav cited “anti-party activities and indiscipline” as the grounds for action. “You have carried out anti-party activities, and even after being warned, you did not stop these activities, due to which the party has suffered a lot. The work done by you is anti-party and a serious act of indiscipline. Hence, you are expelled from Samajwadi Party with immediate effect,” the letter read.
Unfazed by the disciplinary action, Pooja Pal reiterated her stance and defended her remarks praising CM Yogi. “Perhaps you could not hear the women in Prayagraj who were even more worried than me. But I am their voice. I have been elected as an MLA and sent to the Assembly to represent them. All people in Prayagraj who were disturbed due to Atiq Ahmed have been given justice by the CM, not just me. I have been saying this from day one, even when I was in SP. I stand by my statement,” she asserted.
She further stressed her personal ordeal, recalling how her husband, Raju Pal, a BSP MLA, was gunned down in broad daylight in 2005 by gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his aides. “I became an MLA later, but I am a victim woman first, a wife first. They speak of PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak). I too belong to a backward community. I stepped out of my house because my husband was killed. I was a newly-wed bride then. Today, the CM has proven that he stands with victims like me,” Pooja Pal said.
Earlier in the UP Assembly during a marathon debate on ‘Vision Document 2047’, she had openly thanked CM Yogi Adityanath for restoring law and order and for ensuring justice by acting against dreaded criminals. “Everyone knows who murdered my husband. I want to thank the Chief Minister for bringing me justice and hearing me when nobody else did. The CM gave justice to many other women like me in Prayagraj by eliminating criminals like Atiq Ahmed. Today, the state looks at the CM with trust,” she had said.
Her remarks—“Mere pati ke hatyare Atiq Ahmed ko Mukhya Mantri ne mitti mein milaane ka kaam kiya” (The CM buried my husband’s murderer Atiq Ahmed)—sparked a political storm within SP ranks, culminating in her expulsion.
The episode underscores the widening rift between Pooja Pal and SP leadership, while also highlighting how Yogi Adityanath’s tough-on-crime narrative continues to resonate with victims of mafia-politics in Uttar Pradesh.
