Lucknow: Amid fears of cross-voting by the MLAs of Samajwadi Party in the ongoing Rajya Sabha Election, party supremo Akhilesh Yadav said on Tuesday, February 27, that the ones eyeing to milk the situation will leave. Akhilesh Yadav's remarks comes as senior leader Manoj Kumar Pandey resigned from the post of Samajwadi Party's chief whip. 

Asked about the absence of some party MLAs from a party meeting on the polls called on Monday, Akhilesh Yadav said, "Those who wanted to profit from the situation will go. Those who were promised will go." 

"Those who put spikes in someone else' path or dig holes for others themselves fall," Yadav said in a swipe at the BJP. "BJP can adopt all tricks to win elections. It must have given assurance (to some MLAs) of some profit. BJP will do anything to win," he added. 

Voting is underway in the elections for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday with eight BJP candidates and three from the Samajwadi Party in the fray.

Manoj Pandey Resigns From Chief Whip's Post 

Samajwadi Party MLA Manoj Kumar Pandey on Tuesday resigned from the post of party chief whip a day after he skipped a meeting called by party chief Akhilesh Yadav on the Rajya Sabha elections.

In a letter to Yadav, the SP leader said, "You had appointed me as chief whip of Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh Assembly. I am resigning as the chief whip. Kindly accept my resignation." Pandey is an MLA from Unchahar constituency in Raebareli. He was a cabinet minister in the previous Akhilesh Yadav government.

SP MLAs Skip Akhilesh Yadav's Meeting 

As many as eight SP MLAs did not attend a meeting called by the Yadav on Monday. The party chief had called a meeting to brief the MLAs about the voting process of the Rajya Sabha elections, said sources. 

Samajwadi leader Manoj Pandey and seven other MLAs -- Mukesh Verma, Maharaji Prajapati, Pooja Pal, Rakesh Pandey, Vinod Chaturvedi, Rakesh Pratap Singh and Abhay Singh did not attend the meeting.

Speaking to PTI, SP's national spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary had admitted that eight MLAs did not attend the dinner and meeting called by Yadav. However, he did not name the MLAs. 

Scuffle between Samajwadi Party MLAs 

 A scuffle broke out between Samajwadi Party workers in Hardoi earlier today during the party's monthly meeting over the raising of slogans after the announcement of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.

(With Agency Inputs)