BSP suspends MLA after Sikh remarks

Chief Minister Mayawati,who is also national president of her party,has issued instructions not to allow Qureshi at any party programme.

But sources said the action came because of his brother Yusuf Qureshi8217;s decision to join the Congress. The Congress has already given a ticket to Yusuf for contesting the 2012 Assembly polls from Meerut city.

The party was not ready to see the two brothers Yaqub and Yusuf as candidates of BSP and Congress,respectively,in the same Meerut district. It could have sent a wrong impression to its core voters and the action against Yaqub was inevitable, a source in the BSP said.

The sources said the BSP wanted to field Yaqub from the Meerut South Assembly seat. A BSP statement said Yaqub violated party discipline by making objectionable statements about the Sikh community.

Yaqub was elected to the Assembly from Meerut city from the United Democratic Front,a party his brother Yusuf had floated in 2007. The UDF later merged with the BSP.