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The chief minister had already sent a letter in this connection to Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri, at present in Mumbai, official sources said.
However, denying the charges of harbouring criminals, Tripathi told UNI from Gorakhpur that he was still unable to understand the reason behind his dismissal.
The Loktantrik Congress Party (LCP) MLA, who is rushing to the state capital and expected to reach Lucknow on Wednesday evening, said he got the information about his dismissal from the media.
The revelations made by some criminals seems to have triggered Tripathi's downfall.
Late on Tuesday night, the Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh police had arrested five criminals from a house in the Cantonment area of the capital city along with Rahul, the 15-year-old abducted son of a businessman from Basti.
The criminals allegedly 'revealed' that the Lucknow house they were staying in had been provided by the minister.
Coincidently, the state government had launched a special drive against criminals on Wednesday.
Rajnath Singh, in his tenure of over one year, has sacked three influential ministers, including power minister Naresh Agarwal, tourism minister Ashok Yadav and now Amar Mani Tripathi.
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister justified the sacking of Tripathi saying anyone having links with criminals would not be allowed to continue in his ministry.
"The police has concrete evidence of harbouring criminals against Tripathi and therefore, he has been sacked from the council of ministers," Singh told newsmen during a brief stopover at the Amausi airport on his way to Mirzapur from Delhi.
Singh said that he decided to sack Tripathi after having come to know that the police had concrete evidence of his involvement in a kidnapping case and sought the Governor's approval for the same over phone.
The chief minister said Tripathi's sacking wasn't part of an image building exercise, on the eve of the assembly elections in the state.
Meanwhile, Tripathi, who was in Gorakhpur, when contacted, denied the charge and alleged that fake charges were being levelled against him.
Agencies
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