The role of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle and PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav has come under the scanner for the violence at Jawahar Bagh in Mathura.
Addressing party workers in Kanpur on Saturday, BJP president Amit Shah said the Minister gave patronage to Ramvriksh Yadav, who allegedly led a group of 3,000 in illegally occupying the 270-acre government land, and demanded his immediate resignation. When the policemen were being attacked with rifles and explosives, “the Minister, sitting in the Secretariat in Lucknow, gave patronage to the encroachers and did not allow the police to retaliate.” However, Mr. Shivpal Singh Yadav denied the charges and asked Mr. Shah for proof. He urged the BJP president not to spread “baseless rumours.”
Mayawati demands probeBSP chief Mayawati has demanded a CBI probe or a Supreme Court-monitored investigation. She said Mr. Akhilesh Yadav was not serious about the problem; he was touring Bundelkhand, instead of visiting Mathura. The recovery of a huge cache of weapons from the encroached area showed that the miscreants enjoyed the “full protection” of the government, she said.
Within hours of the violence, the State government announced a probe by a State official, but the Opposition parties said it would not help to reveal the names of the politicians who protected the miscreants.
BJP members, meanwhile, staged a dharna in front of the Collectorate.
