Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has sacked 82 functionaries enjoying the status of Minister? of State including advisers and chairmen of various corporations.? A communique from the Chief Minister's Office, sent unofficially to the media said 16? people had been spared in the crackdown by the Chief Minister.?

These included NC Bajpayi, Deputy Chairman, State Planning Commission; Poet Gopal Das Neeraj, Chairman, Hindi Bhasha Sansthan; Former party MP Uday Pratap Singh, chairman, Hindi Academy; Sunil Jogi, Chairman, Hindustani Academy, Allahabad; Tarkeshwar Mishra, Chairman, UP Agro; Javed Abdi, Chairman, UP Pollution Control Board? and Nawaz Deobandi, Chairman, State Urdu Acdemy.

Official sources said, all perks, privileges, cars, security paraphernalia and staff given to these people will be withdrawn soon.? ?Officials said, the Chief Minister in consultation with Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav will soon announce some new appointments. The state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party welcomed the move and demanded that the tenure of these ministers be investigated threadbare.