By IANS,
New Delhi : The murder of an Uttar Pradesh government engineer allegedly by a ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator shows that organised crime and terrorism are ruling the state, Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh said here Thursday.
“The way an engineer has been murdered for refusing to pay for Chief Minister Mayawati’s birthday celebrations shows that in Uttar Pradesh it’s a government whose representatives are involved in organised crime and terrorism,” Singh told reporters.
BSP legislator Shekhar Tiwari was arrested Wednesday for his alleged involvement in the murder of Public Works Department (PWD) engineer M.K. Gupta in Auraiya district early Wednesday morning.
The Samajwadi Party immediately called for a state wide shutdown Thursday to protest the killing.
“Today we decided to protest peacefully against the murder of the engineer, but the administration is using brutal methods to suppress the protest and is plotting to kill our leaders. Kamlesh Pathak, our Lok Sabha candidate from Bilhaur constituency, is under threat and can be killed anytime by the Uttar Pradesh police,” Amar Singh said.
Accusing the BSP of promoting criminals into politics, he said the ruling party has become a den of criminals.
“Criminals like Ateeq Ahmad, D.P. Yadav and Mukhtar Ansari are working for the BSP and have been given tickets to contest upcoming parliamentary elections,” Singh said.
He, however, refused to comment when it was pointed out that the same people were with the Samajwadi Party earlier.
Singh said the Samajwadi Party will mark Mayawati’s birthday Jan 15 as ‘thu thu diwas’ (condemnation day).
He also urged the Congress-led central government to take strict action against the Uttar Pradesh government.
“I will meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi in a day or two and will request her to take stern action against Mayawati’s anti-people regime,” he said.
Singh said he will visit Auraiya Dec 28 along with party chief and former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and will give Rs.1 million to the family of the victim.