BSP expels four leaders

Continuing its 'operation cleanup' against leaders with alleged criminal antecedents, the ruling BSP has expelled four persons including two formers MPs and an ex-MLA, party sources said in Lucknow on Sunday.

"Former MPs Rizwan Zaheer and Kirti Vardhan Singh, ex-MLA Ajay Pratap Singh alias Lalla Bhaiyya, have been expelled from the party on the directives of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP leader Mayawati," the sources said.

Chajju Ram, said to be BSP's coordinator in Gonda, has also been expelled, they said. His expulsion comes in the wake of a shooting incident on April 14 during a function to mark birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar.

Earlier, the party had expelled MLA Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari, a former MP, for their continued involvement in alleged criminal activities.

Mayawati had asked party leaders to prepare a list of people with criminal background, the sources said.

Senior party leaders Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Babu Singh Kushwaha held a meeting with party coordinators at zonal, Lok Sabha and assembly levels and asked them to compile a list of such elements so that action could be taken against them, they said.