SP MLA arrested, his complex bulldozed
Ruling Samajwadi Party MLA Ram Pal Yadav on Thursday found himself at the receiving end when the demolition squad of the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) in a swift operation bulldozed his unauthorized commercial complex here in the state capital. At around the same time, authorities in Sitapur razed a portion of his hotel Sparsh there.
Getting the news, Ram Pal along with former SP MLA Rajendra Yadav and over a dozen people reached the site at Jia Mau locality and physically assaulted LDA secretary SC Verma even as his supporters entered into a scuffle with the police team. In the ensuing melee, Jitendra Yadav, son of Rajendra Yadav, whipped out his licensed pistol and pointed it at policemen in the presence of SSP Rajesh Pandey.
Following the police complaint, DM Raj Shekhar cancelled his licence.
Seeing the situation turning violent and getting out of hand, the SSP ordered a cane-charge to disperse the mob and bundled Ram Pal, who was squatting on the road, into a waiting police vehicle along with his men. LDA vice chairman Satyendra Singh, who had come to take stock of the demolition drive, had to beat a hasty retreat amidst the highdrama which began at around 3 pm and lasted for over a couple of hours.
The ruling party legislator along with his seven rabblerousers were taken into custody and taken to the reserve police lines. Later, a case for rioting and attempt to murder was registered with Gautampalli police station in the matter. Those named in the FIR included Jitendra, Pusphendra and Shivendra (sons of ex-MLA Rajendra Yadav) and their aides Tauqir Ahmad, Gagan Yadav, Shiv Kumar and Bharti Yadav, daughter of Ram Pal Yadav. The police also recovered two licensed revolvers from Jitendra and Pushpendra, according to SSP Rajesh Pandey. “Jitendra would have pulled the trigger had sub-inspector Subash Mishra and one constable not overpowered him,” said SSP Pandey.
Hailing from Biswan assembly constituency in Sitapur, Ram Pal Yadav defied the party line when his son contested the zila panchayat chairperson’s election this year and defeated the official party candidate Seema Gupta.
The son’s rebellion cost the father his place in the party. Ram Pal was suspended for anti-party activities on January 4. Thursday’s LDA action was a repeat of its act when it had similarly swooped down on the underconstruction commercial complex of the controversial MLA in a late-night operation on January 13. Yadav had then managed to thwart the drive by swearing his allegiance to the party.
He was inducted back into the party-fold. “We will not stop this time even if it takes us the entire night to pulldown the building,” said a senior LDA official supervising the massive demolition.
Work on the illegal commercial complex, which the LDA had claimed it had sealed, commenced full-swing and the building now stands over 10,000 square feet land. According to party sources, the SP top-brass had brokered only a temporary truce with Ram Pal in the wake of legislative council polls to ensure victory of its candidate from Sitapur. “I had submitted the building plan with the LDA, they sanctioned it initially but later revoked the sanction,” Ram Pal told Hindustan Times claiming that he also had a court stay against any action in the matter.
It is another matter that his commercial complex is located in an unauthorized colony and as such even if it had wanted to, the LDA could not have approved the plan.