Lucknow: Four Samajwadi Party (SP) members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) who voted for the BJP in the recent Rajya Sabha polls have been allocated Y-category security by the central government, a senior government official said on Sunday.
MLAs who got Y-category security
The four MLAs who got Y-category security are Abhay Singh (Gosaiganj), Manoj Kumar Pandey (Unchahar), Rakesh Pratap Singh (Gauriganj) and Vinod Chaturvedi (Kalpi), respectively. Under the Y-category security, eight CRPF personnel will guard these MLAs, with five personnel assigned to their residences and the remainder accompanying them during travel.
An official mentioned, "While Abhay Singh was allocated the security cover on Friday, the three others got it on Saturday."
Others who cross-voted for BJP
These four MLAs, along with three other party legislators - Pooja Pal, Rakesh Pandey, and Ashutosh Maurya - had cross-voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections. This resulted in the saffron party candidate, Sanjay Seth, defeating the Samajwadi Party nominee, Alok Ranjan. Maharaji Prajapati, another MLA, had abstained.
Rakesh Pandey is the father of MP Ritesh Pandey, who recently switched from the BSP to the BJP.
Following the Rajya Sabha elections, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav commented that "they (MLAs) have gone (to the BJP) due to the 'package' they got and security."
(With PTI inputs)
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