Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav appears to have more trouble in store for him.
With his bete noire and successor Mayawati already training her guns on him, what seemed to add to his woes was the revelation about his party Member of Parliament having faked a caste certificate to contest the last Lok Sabha election as a Scheduled Caste.
MP Shankh Lal Majhi was elected from Ambedkar Nagar, a seat earlier held by Bahujan Samaj Party chief and state Chief Minister Mayawati.
According to an official spokesman, "Prima facie, Majhi submitted a fake certificate before the returning officer of the reserved constituency in his bid to prove that he was a scheduled caste, when he actually belonged to the backward caste."
The fraud was exposed by none other than his estranged wife who had already lodged a complaint against Majhi, who had once even managed to get a ministerial berth.
The errant parliamentarian was not available for comment. However, authorities maintained that Majhi could not only lose his Lok Sabha membership but also face severe punishment for what was termed as a "criminal act."
An official spokesman of the state election office described the incident as rarest of the rare.
"It was extremely unusual for any politician to fake his caste certificate, since his surname easily identifies the caste to which he belongs. It was really shocking that someone not only attempted but also succeeded in faking his caste to become an MP," he pointed out.
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