Rajpal Tyagi, who is a former minister in the Mayawati government, will contest now as a Samajwadi candidate from Muradnagar in Ghaziabad. A minister of agriculture, education and research in Mayawati government, Tyagi was dropped in December after the state high court ordered a CBI probe into a fake encounter case. Tyagi was accused of influencing the police to kill his political rival.
SP defended it decision to induct the controversial ex-minister, saying he has not been found guilty yet. The Mulayam Singh led party has given tickets to BSP discards such as Bhagwan Sharma (alias Guddu Pandit) from Dibai in Bulandshahar.
