Lucknow: Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday expelled his MLA Pooja Pal from the Samajwadi Party just hours after she heaped praises on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for delivering justice to the culprits behind the murder of her husband Raju Pal.
An official signed by Akhilesh, the chief of the Samajwadi Party, said Pal has been found indulging in anti-party activities in the past and did not refrain despite an intimation, which led to great damage to the party and she has been expelled.
The development comes after Pal praised Yogi Adityanath for improving law and order in the state and thanked him for delivering justice to women like her by eliminating criminals such as Atiq Ahmed. Pooja is the widow of Raju Pal, former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA, who was shot dead in Allahabad in 2005.
“Everyone knows who murdered my husband. I want to thank the Chief Minister for giving me justice and hearing me when no one else did. The CM has given justice to many women in Prayagraj through policies like zero tolerance, which led to the elimination of criminals like Atiq Ahmed,” she said.
“Today, the entire state looks to the CM with trust. My husband’s killer, Atiq Ahmed, was brought to justice by the Chief Minister. I raised my voice when I saw no one was willing to take on criminals like him. When I began to lose strength in this fight, CM Yogi Adityanath gave me justice,” she added.
Raju, a BSP MLA, lost the Allahabad West Assembly seat in the 2002 UP elections but went on to defeat Ashraf in the subsequent by-poll after the seat was vacated. Police suspect that his murder was the result of political rivalry. Gangster Atiq Ahmed and his brother were convicted by a UP court for the murder.
Atiq and his brother Ashraf were killed in April 2023 while in police custody. They had been taken to Colvin Hospital in Prayagraj for a medical examination when three unidentified assailants, posing as journalists, opened fire while the two were speaking to the media.
Atiq was shot in the head, and the attackers fired around 20 bullets, killing both brothers on the spot. The incident occurred on the same day that Atiq’s son Asad, an accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, was shot dead by police in an encounter in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh.
I stand by my words’: Chail MLA Pooja Pal
Despite losing her party membership, Pooja Pal remained unapologetic. Addressing the media, she said, “The people of Prayagraj who were troubled because of Atiq Ahmed have received justice from the CM, not just Pooja Pal. I have been saying the same thing from day one- even when I was in the party. I stand by my statement.”
She described herself not just as a politician but as a victim of the violence that claimed her husband’s life.
“I am a victim woman first, a wife. My husband was murdered in broad daylight when I was a newlywed bride. There was nobody at my home. I raised my voice when others stayed silent, and CM Yogi gave me justice.”
Pooja Pal said, “I had praised the Chief Minister earlier as well, but yesterday in the Assembly I criticised the mafia Atiq, speaking about how the Chief Minister delivered justice by bringing him down to dust. The Samajwadi Party did not like this, which is why I was expelled; otherwise, I had praised the Chief Minister before, too. As for the SP’s PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak), you can see for yourself- in Prayagraj, Umesh Pal was murdered, and he too belonged to the PDA community. I also belong to the same community, and my husband Raju Pal was from this community as well, but the SP sheds tears for the killers instead. I was not given any information about my expulsion.”
Raju Pal, then BSP MLA from Prayagraj, was shot dead in 2005, weeks after marrying Pooja Pal. The killing was allegedly orchestrated by Atiq Ahmed and his associates.
The high-profile murder case dragged on for years until the Yogi Adityanath government undertook an aggressive crackdown on criminal gangs in the state. In April 2023, Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead while in police custody by assailants posing as journalists.
During her speech in the Assembly, Pooja Pal had directly credited Yogi’s governance for bringing her husband’s killers “to the ground.” She told fellow legislators:
“The Chief Minister buried my husband’s murderer Atiq Ahmed…When I was exhausted from the fight, CM Yogi gave me justice.”
With her expulsion, Pooja Pal’s political future now hangs in the balance- but her defiance suggests she’s willing to chart a new course. For the SP, the episode reflects the challenges of party discipline in a climate where personal tragedies can clash with political boundaries.
