Four Samajwadi Party Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs), who switched allegiance to the BJP during the February 27 Rajya Sabha elections, have now been granted Y-category security. The four MLAs receiving this security upgrade are Abhay Singh from Gosaiganj, Manoj Kumar Pandey from Unchahar, Rakesh Pratap Singh from Gauriganj and Vinod Chaturvedi from Kalpi, according to a senior government official.
These four legislators, along with three others from their party – Pooja Pal, Rakesh Pandey and Ashutosh Maurya – opted to vote for the BJP during the Rajya Sabha polls. This move ultimately resulted in the victory of BJP candidate Sanjay Seth over the Samajwadi Party’s Alok Ranjan. Another SP MLA, Maharaji Prajapati, chose to abstain from voting.
Notably, Rakesh Pandey, one of the MLAs who crossed over to the BJP, is the father of MP Ritesh Pandey, who recently switched his party affiliation from the BSP to the BJP.
Eight CRPF personnel deployed
Under the Y-category security provision, eight CRPF personnel will be assigned to protect these MLAs, with five stationed at their residences and the remaining accompanying them during travel. The official mentioned that while Abhay Singh was granted security cover on Friday, the other three received it the following day.
Akhilesh Yadav accuses BJP of offering incentives
Following the Rajya Sabha elections, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav commented that the defection of these MLAs to the BJP was motivated by the incentives they received, including security arrangements.
(With inputs from PTI)