File photo of Akhilesh Yadav.
The Uttar Pradesh government has transferred Home Secretary Sarvesh Chandra Mishra and suspended another official after a letter asking for the "reconstruction" of the Ram temple at Ayodhya was issued by Mr Mishra's office earlier this week.
"This letter is regarding parliamentary law by the Centre for reconstruction of temple at Ram Janmabhoomi on the lines of reconstruction of the Somnath temple," read the subject of the letter.
While Mr Mishra has been transferred and put on 'wait mode', a section officer in the home department, Prem Kumar Pandey, was suspended over the letter, which had called for a meeting of top state officials on October 14.
Though the state government clarified that it was a "misprint" and that the meeting was called with reference to an event organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on October 19, the damage to the ruling Samajwadi Party was done.
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has been facing allegations of colluding with the BJP over the Muzaffarnagar communal clashes last month that killed over 60 and forced more than 45,000 people to take shelter in relief centres.
The Supreme Court, on October 17, is likely to decide on whether or not the investigation into the Muzaffarnagar clashes be handed over to the CBI.
While the Ram temple remains an issue for the BJP as it goes to the 2014 polls, the reference to Somnath temple implicates veteran party leader LK Advani, who, in 1990, had begun a 'rath yatra' from the temple in Gujarat to campaign for a Ram temple at Ayodhya, triggering massive riots.