Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Wednesday gave marching orders to cabinet minister Ashok Kumar Dohre for allegedly committing forgery and financial irregularities, it was officially disclosed in Lucknow.
According to a government spokesman, "Dohre, who was holding charge of the ministry of Land Conservation and Water Resources, was found to have gone to the extent of forging letter-heads of the Agriculture minister to throw his weight among officials of the agriculture ministry from whom he would seek undue favours."
He said, "the minister was even alleged to have made attempts to fraudulently divert and misappropriate government funds."
The spokesman went on to add, "no sooner than the chief minister communicated her recommendation to UP Governor B
L Joshi, the Raj Bhawan promptly issued orders for his removal from the cabinet."
The chief minister was understood to have taken the decision to sack him following a number of complaints against the minister by her own Bahujan Samaj Party activists. However, what accelerated the decision was a confirmation by Agriculture Minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui, who was among Mayawati's close confidants.
Quipped a senior BSP functionary on the condition of anonymity, "well, that's Mayawati's way of conveying that she would not tolerate a minister indulging in corrupt practices, unlike the Congress leadership which could not dare to take any action against its ministers neck deep in different scams and also responsible for unabated rise in prices of essential commodities."