A day after a statue of the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati, at the Ambedkar Park in Lucknow was vandalised, a delegation of the Bahujan Samaj Party called on Uttar Pradesh Governor B.L. Joshi on Friday and demanded imposition of President’s rule in the State.
The statue has been replaced with a replica that was kept in the backyard of Sangeet Natak Akademi here. Forty labourers were pressed in the restoration work that was supervised by the Lucknow District Magistrate and senior officials.
The BSP had served an ultimatum on the government for the completion of the restoration work within 24 hours.
In a memorandum submitted to Mr. Joshi, the delegation urged that security around the monuments built by the previous regime be tightened and the culprits be arrested. It said that the present government was ineffective in controlling crime.
The delegation, comprising Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Swamy Prasad Maurya, State unit president Ram Achal Rajbhar, and senior leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui, also met Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. In a memorandum submitted to him, the BSP demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident, installation of a marble statue of Ms. Mayawati of the same size and specifications, deployment of armed security guards at all the parks and memorials built by the party chief in Lucknow and Noida and immediate arrest of the accused.
Mr. Maurya told reporters that the Chief Minister assured them that the accused would be arrested within 12 hours and other demands fulfilled.
IG (Law and Order) B.P. Singh said on Friday police teams had been sent to nab the prime accused Amit Jani, who is the president of the Nav Nirman Sena. He is said to be somewhere in western Uttar Pradesh.
About the three persons detained on Thursday, Mr. Singh said they had been charged with conspiracy. An inquiry was on by the ADG (Intelligence).
BSP workers staged protest demonstrations and resorted to violence and arson in several cities on Thursday. Hundreds of workers, led by the former Minister, Naseemuddin Siddiqui, staged a dharna at the Vidhan Sabha building here at night.
