Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) workers on Thursday afternoon called off their agitation in Lucknow against former Uttar Pradesh BJP vice-president Dayashankar Singh for his abusive remarks against their party chief Mayawati after police promised to arrest Mr. Singh within the next 36 hours.
Lucknow District Magistrate Raj Shekhar met the party workers and leaders and told them the police were looking for Mr. Singh after an FIR was lodged against him late on Wednesday night at the Hazratganj police station.
After a categorical and time-bound assurance to them by authorities, BSP leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui said the agitation was being called off.
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A police team was sent to Mr. Singh’s house in Ballia on Wednesday night, but he was not found, Deputy Superintendent of Police K.C. Tyagi said.
Sources say Mr. Singh, who has since been expelled by the BJP, is holed up at some place in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
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Video: Rajeev Bhat
Earlier, hundreds of BSP workers staged a protest before the Ambedkar statue in Hazratganj area in Lucknow, demanding his arrest. They raised slogans and burnt effigies,
BSP workers from the districts were asked to reach the State capital to lodge a strong protest against the remarks made by Mr. Singh, the party said. Hundreds of party workers started arriving from districts.
Traffic was thrown out of gear in the city as BSP workers, carrying placards, thronged the area.
In the dharna, a BSP worker was slightly injured while trying to set an effigy ablaze. The shirt of the injured worker caught fire. But, he, along with others, promptly pulled it out and he escaped with minor burns.
Mr. Singh had said, “if someone gives her Rs. 1 crore, she will give him the ticket, but after an hour, if another person offers her Rs. 2 crore, she will give it to him. Later in the evening, if someone else approaches her with Rs. 3 crore, she will give the ticket to him.”
There was all-round condemnation of Mr. Singh's remarks. MPs, including Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, the DMK’s Kanimozhi, the TMC’s Derek O’Brien, the Congress’ Kumari Selja and Renuka Chowdhury, T.K. Rangarajan of the CPI(M) and Satish Chandra Mishra of the BSP and demands were made for severe action against him.
Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the issue was over and the BJP had taken action against him.
“This issue is over. We took action against him. Now what else should we do, tell? What he said was completely objectionable. The Leader of the House too condemned the statement at the earliest. He was removed from his post, and later on he was suspended also. Let them protest, they keep on protesting; be it Congress or others. The thing is that the BJP is moving ahead, and they can’t digest that,” he said.