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Kalyan sacks three aides for criticising Rai

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

Kusum Rai, mainly responsible for former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh's downfall, is at it again.

At least three prominent leaders of Kalyan's newly floated political outfit, Rashtriya Kranti Party (RKP), rose up against her, only to be shown the door.

While resentment is brewing in the RKP over Rai's growing "dominance", some of Kalyan's confidants, like Ram Kumar Shukla, Ganga Charan Rajput and Om Prakash Singh, were sacked for coming out openly against her.

They had been very close to Kalyan and had stood by him in the worst of times, especially when Kalyan quit the Bharatiya Janata Party. Shukla is a former BJP legislator, while Rajput has been a Member of Parliament for three terms.

On why they chose to stick with Kalyan when Rai's dominance was an open secret, Shukla told mediapersons, "We were directly associated with Kalyan and hoped that with the passage of time he would get over his obsession and would devote his energy to building the new party; but we did not realise that there would be only disappointment in store for us."

Refuting their charges, the former chief minister and one-time BJP stalwart stated, "They are making wild allegations as they are envious of Rai, an active and aggressive party worker."

To his detractors' charge on Rai having acquired wealth far in proportion to her legitimate means, Kalyan said, "Let any investigating agency probe that. Then only should anyone have the right to make such accusations."

Rajput, who enjoyed a good rapport with Kalyan for many years, charged the latter with "sidelining old associates for the sake of Rai."

He cited the case of Ram Kumar Shukla, who was removed from a prominent position in the party hierarchy at Rai's behest. "The choice of the party's new executive committee was the handiwork of Rai,'' he charged, adding, "Enough is enough. We cannot tolerate further humiliation by an upstart."

He claimed that several prominent political leaders, who had parted ways with the BJP to join hands with Kalyan, were unhappy with the state of affairs in the RKP. He claimed that some legislators were "rather chagrined with Kalyan essentially because of Rai and her bossy ways."

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