The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday accused the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc parties in Uttar Pradesh — the Samajwadi Party and the Congress — of helping embolden criminals in that State after the arrest of two persons allegedly associated with SP on charges of rape and attempt to rape.
BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said that the recent rise in the political strength of “do ladke” (two boys), a reference to Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and SP chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, drawing from the SP-Congress campaign slogan of the 2017 Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, has resulted in criminals becoming emboldened in Uttar Pradesh.
Mr. Trivedi accused the SP of sheltering criminals, and targeted the party over the arrest of two persons allegedly associated with it on the charges of rape and attempt to rape.
Not only has the SP has been giving “cover fire” to criminals but the members of the Opposition INDIA bloc are helping each other defend criminal elements of their alliance partners as well, Mr. Trivedi said during a press conference at the BJP’s national headquarters in New Delhi.
“Those associated with the two boys have been committing crimes. The audacity of criminals has been rising since the increase in the strength of these two boys,” he said in an apparent reference to Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Yadav, whose alliance outperformed the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Uttar Pradesh in the recent Lok Sabha election.
“It is in the DNA of the Samajwadi Party to stand with criminals,” Mr. Trivedi said, in a swipe at the regional party’s demand for DNA testing to prove the guilt of the accused in one of the cases.
Questioning the “silence” of Mr. Gandhi and his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over these crimes, he said INDIA bloc parties were covering up for “mutual criminal elements” in their alliance.
