“Sycophants” in the Samajwadi Party (SP), it appears, have become the first casualty in the regime of the chief minister-designate Akhilesh Yadav, who has promised to crack down hard on the “goonda elements” within his party and vowed to maintain the law and order at any cost.



Dropping enough indication that he would not be tolerating “sycophancy”, Akhilesh directed that local municipal corporation authorities to remove the hundreds of hoardings that had come up all across the state capital, especially the roads leading to the SP headquarters here and near the party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh’s home almost immediately after the counting of votes was over.



The hoardings, that hailed the arrival of Akhilesh Yadav on the political horizon of the state, had been put up by small time and also senior leaders of the party, in an apparent attempt to prove their loyalty towards the party and its supremo.



They were meant to draw the attention of the top leaders and they did but the reaction was not favourable. The municipal authorities removed around five thousand small and big hoardings during the past few days on the instruction of Akhilesh Yadav, sources said.



Almost all the hoardings had been put up in gross violation of the rules and without permission of the local urban body. In some cases, the commercial hoardings were removed by the SP workers to put up their own hoardings. A few days back, there were hoardings by the BSP leaders hailing their only leader and party supremo Mayawati.



Akhilesh has warned the party workers and leaders against breeding indiscipline and has also said that he would not hesitate in acting against them if they were found to be involved in criminal activities.



Akhilesh, who is also the state unit president of the party, has also directed that no leader other than those authorized, would put up party flags on his vehicle and beacon lights. The order was issued by him in the wake of past experiences when the party leaders terrorized common people by traveling in vehicles having SP flags and beacon lights.