BJP MLA accused of holding CMO hostage

LUCKNOW: A BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh was accused of creating a ruckus in the office of Hardoi chief medical officer (CMO) Dr PM Chaturvedi and holding him hostage there.

Dr Chaturvedi claimed he was locked up in his own office by lawmaker Ashish Kumar Singh who, along with his men, were trying to put pressure on him over the transfer of a village level woman health worker of Mallawan, Singh’s assembly constituency in Hardoi.

Dr Chaturvedi has also written to Hardoi district magistrate Shubhra Saxena apprising her of the ruckus at his office even as the BJP lawmaker denied the charge and blamed the CMO instead of trying to frame him.

Expressing solidarity with the chief medical officer, the government doctors of the district have threatened to go on strike if no action was taken against the BJP lawmaker.

Dr Chaturvedi said a minister too had made a request for the transfer of ANM and he had initiated the transfer process on minister’s letter.

On Saturday, the lawmaker and his supporters arrived at the CMO office and sought to know the status of the transfer request made by them. The CMO claimed that after hearing him, the lawmaker started misbehaving. “He scared my staff away and locked the main gate of my office too,” the chief medical officer said.

Meanwhile the BJP lawmaker alleged that CMO was attempting to frame him. “I had gone to his office to talk to him. On CMO’s orders, the employees of his office held me hostage,” he said. The police have begun probe. ADM Vipin Mishra also reached the CMO office to gather details.