Attacks on cops: CM summons Saharanpur MP, Agra leaders
Raghav Lakhanpal claims he came on his own to meet chief minister
LUCKNOW : Bharatiya Janata Party’s Saharanpur MP Raghav Lakhanpal, named in last week’s violence outside Saharanpur SSP Luv Kumar’s residence, was summoned by chief minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Wednesday evening.
The CM also separately met all nine BJP MLAs from Agra. They were led by Agra MP Ram Shankar Katheria.
The BJP, as well as Vishva Hindu Parishad leaders, were named in connection with attacks on police officers in Agra.
Lakhanpal, who was accompanied by union minister Sanjeev Balyan, claimed he had come on his own to meet the CM who has ordered the new director general of police Sulkhan Singh to act firmly against ‘lawbreakers’. Katheria, on the other hand, claimed he had come along with party MLAs from Agra to discuss the Taj city’s development though sources said the issue of violence in Agra, where a cop was thrashed, was also discussed at the meeting.
Both the groups claimed they had presented the “real picture” before the CM. “Whatever is being shown (about him) isn’t right. We came on our own and not because we were summoned,” Lakhanpal told reporters outside the CM’s residence before leaving. He denied any involvement in violence outside Saharanpur SSP’s residence and claimed that the police officer was giving a fresh twist to the issue to escape accountability.
The meeting of Lakhanpal, who is believed to have called the SSP ‘nalayak’ (worthless), came ahead of a likely meeting the UP IPS association has sought with the chief minister.
The police officers have already passed a resolution, condemning the violence though the chief minister has been repeatedly asking the party cadres not to take the law in their own hands. The Saharanpur SSP was among several bureaucrats transferred late on Wednesday night. “The law is the same for everyone. Now you are not in opposition, so communicate all your worries or grievances through the proper channel,” the CM has warned various bodies, including fringe elements.
“I have the CM’s backing and we are surely not going to tolerate anyone trying to take the law in their hands,” the DGP, who held a long video conference with police officers on Tuesday, told HT.
Both the CM, as well as the Sangh, are upset with the manner in which a handful of people are trying to undo the ‘excellent start’ made by the month-old Yogi government, say sources.
Balyan claimed that they have presented “right picture” before the CM. He said this shortly after former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav criticised the BJP leaders in the Saharanpur incident. “Akhilesh Yadav is now in the opposition and, hence, he is busy blaming BJP. We have briefed the CM about the developments there. There was no damage and violence (at Saharanpur SSP’s residence). If anybody has any proof they should come up with it,” Baliyan told reporters outside CM’s residence. Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya who was in Agra on Wednesday told HT on phone that the government would ensure that the “morale of the police and the dignity of the party cadre” both remained high.