Mafia presentin UP cabinet, asserts Kalyan

PRESS TRUST OF INDIAAZAMGARH, DECEMBER 21: Expelled BJP leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh today alleged that a large number of "mafia" were present in the state cabinet.

"The mafia are ruling the roost in the UP cabinet," he told reporters here, adding a "powerful lobby in BJP" had forced him to induct "some undesirable elements" in the ministry when he was the Chief Minister."I am now heading a new party and I am free to choose and admit persons of character in it," he added.

BJP’s state unit reacted sharply to Singh’s remarks, saying: "If there are persons of criminal background in the state cabinet today, they were also in the last cabinet (headed by Kalyan Singh)."