By IANS
Lucknow : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh has been named in a charge sheet filed by the Uttar Pradesh Police after a probe into the release of poll campaign VCDs with alleged communal content.
During the assembly elections in April-May, 2007, some controversial VCDs did the rounds amid reports that Singh and former state minister Lalji Tandon were among those who formally released them as part of the election campaign.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Anuj Kumar Bishnoi had filed a case against Singh and Tandon charging them under the Indian Penal Code on grounds of promoting enmity between different religious groups, making assertions prejudicial to national integration, indulging in malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings, uttering words so as to hurt religious feelings and making statements amounting to public mischief.
They were also charged under Sections 123, 125(3) and 3(A) of the Representation of People’s Act.
After becoming the chief minister, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati ordered the reopening of the case last year.
After investigations by Deputy Superintendent of Police B.P. Ashok, a charge sheet has been filed naming Singh and Tandon, sources close to the probe told IANS Wednesday.
With this, battle lines have been redrawn between the BJP and BSP, which have shared power twice in the state before falling out with each other.
A decade ago when she ruled the state with the BJP’s support, Mayawati was close to Tandon and had tied a rakhi on his hand, calling him a “brother”.
Reacting to the development, Singh said: “Everybody knows that I was not there when the CDs were released.”
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said it was “gross injustice”. “Would Sonia Gandhi be held accountable for something done by an ordinary Congress worker?” he asked.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley termed the case “politically motivated”.
The BJP in recent months has been highly critical of the Mayawati regime. It has blamed both the central and the BSP governments for increasing terror attacks in Uttar Pradesh.