UP minister who ‘abducted’ CMO to alter docs list quits

Three days after he virtually abducted Gonda CMO S P Singh in the middle of the night and threatened him to change a list of selected Ayush doctors, Minister of State for Revenue Vinod Kumar Singh alias Pandit Singh resigned on Friday "on moral grounds".

"I have sent my resignation to the Chief Minister. As my name figured in the alleged abduction of the CMO, I resigned on moral grounds," Singh told The Indian Express.

There was no official statement, either from the government or the ruling SP, on his resignation.

But sources said Singh's fate was sealed on Thursday evening when he was told to resign, after Health Minister Ahmed Hasan briefed Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav soon after they returned from Amitabh Bachchan's birthday party in Mumbai.

Singh reportedly made some last-ditch efforts to mobilise support of other Thakur leaders in the SP, but without success. While the CM and Mulayam were busy at an event to mark the death anniversary of Ram Manohar Lohia at Lohia Park, Singh announced to the media at a friend's house in Nirala Nagar that he had resigned. "It was totally my decision and I was not asked by the CM to resign," he stated.

Singh alleged that he had been implicated in a fake incident. "Now when I have resigned, it should be clear that there was a conspiracy against me," he said, but refused to name anyone for the conspiracy. On Thursday, however, he had blamed Agriculture Minister Raja Anand Singh.

Vinod Kumar Singh said he would continue to work as a loyal member of the SP. "I will support any candidate who the party fields in the Lok Sabha election from Gonda, even if it is the son of Raja Anand Singh," said Vinod Kumar Singh.

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