TNI Bureau: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who won the assembly polls on the basis of promise that his party would wipe out goondaraj in the state, expanded his Cabinet reinducting SP leader, who was fired as a minister in October last year for allegedly kidnapping a senior government medical officer.
Akhilesh expanded his Cabinet for the first time adding 12 ministers after coming to power. However, he dragged the media attention when Vinod Kumar Singh alias Pandit Singh was brought back in the Cabinet once again today.
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Pandit Singh was dropped from the UP government for manhandling the chief medical officer in Gonda. He is also accused in three other cases. However, Akhilesh said that Singh should be treated as innocent till the probe into the kidnapping case is completed.
Akhilesh’s decision could be highly criticised for reinducting an accused in his Cabinet. The move came a day after a senior police officer in Gonda was transferred for coordinating a sting operation that exposed a minister asking the police to accept a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from his aide for allowing a group to continue illegal cattle trafficking.