'No threat to Pooja Pal's life': She faced action for cross-voting in RS poll, says SP MLA

Lucknow, Aug 23 (IANS) The Samajwadi Party on Saturday dismissed “expelled” party MLA Pooja Pal’s claims of a threat to her life and justified the party’s disciplinary action against her for allegedly cross-voting in Rajya Sabha elections.

Samajwadi Party MLA Ravidas Mehrotra told IANS, “There is no threat to her life. After her husband’s murder, we stood by her, gave her a ticket, and she won the election on an SP ticket. But later, she started criticising Akhilesh Yadav.”

He said, “In the Rajya Sabha elections, after receiving a huge sum of money, she cross-voted. When this was confirmed, she was expelled from the party."

Earlier, Pooja Pal, an MLA from Prayagraj, alleged that SP workers routinely abuse and threaten her on social media.

“If I am murdered, the real culprit will be Akhilesh Yadav. My husband was killed in broad daylight, and instead of standing with us, the SP shielded the criminals. Today, I am receiving threats, and I fear the same fate,” she said.

“I am a daughter of the extremely backward caste. I have never bowed before criminals, and I never will. Nari Shakti never loses. I will fight and win again,” she added.

Pooja Pal was expelled from the Samajwadi Party during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly session after she openly praised Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Following her expulsion, she met CM Yogi and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, fuelling speculation about her next political move.

Pal, a two-time MLA who won independently before contesting on an SP ticket in her third election, accused the SP leadership of double standards and caste bias.

“I believed Akhilesh Yadav would fight against criminals and deliver justice, but the reality was the opposite. In SP, backwards, extremely backwards and Dalits are treated as second-class citizens. Only Muslims are considered first-class, even if they are hardened criminals,” she alleged.

--IANS

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