BJP leader accuses MLA Sangeet Som of anti-party activities

MEERUT: District unit president of the BJP Shiv Kumar Rana has accused party MLA Sangeet Som of involvement in antiparty activities during the election to the post of zila panchayat president last week.

In a letter to state BJP president and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Rana accused Som of joining hands with Samajwadi Party leader Shahid Manzoor and former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator Yogesh Verma against BJP candidate Kulwinder Singh.

Rana said Kulwinder had lost the previous election during the SP rule by a margin of one vote.

“In a meeting convened to finalise the candidate for the election, party MLAs and MPs unanimously approved his candidature. As Som was against Kulwinder’s candidature, he connived with the leaders of rival parties against him,” Rana claimed.

Rana alleged that Som also got zila panchayat member Nitin Khatik abducted. “Later, Som’s associates Viccky Taneja, Shekhar Som and Pradeep Hudda abducted another zila panchayat member Anuj Valmiki,” he claimed.

Rana said Som also kept two zila panchayat members, Satpal and Lalit Chauhan, under confinement so that they could not vote in favour of the BJP candidate.

Kulwinder, however, managed to win the election by a margin of one vote.

SP leader Seema Pradhan had resigned from the post after Kulwinder moved a no-confidence motion against her in April this year.

Eventually, Pradhan came out as his saviour in the election by indirectly supporting him in the election.