UP BJP MPs get restive, keep embarrassing party, govt

By Amita Verma

Lucknow, Dec 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) Bharatiya Janata Party MPs in Uttar Pradesh are getting increasingly vocal about their resentment against the 'system' and are leaving no stone unturned to embarrass the party and the government.

BJP MP from Kanpur, Satyadev Pachauri has written a letter to the UP government saying that the investigation of the criminal cases lodged against SP MLA Irfan Solanki should be done on merits and facts.

Pachauri said that the investigation in the criminal cases lodged against the SP MLA should be done in a free and fair manner.

Asked if he helped Solanki's wife and mother in meeting some senior officials including principal secretary, Home, the MP said that every person has the right to seek help from the officials to put the matter in their knowledge.

Pachauri's intervention in the matter concerning an opposition MLA has caused considerable embarrassment to the state government.

The SP MLA, who surrendered on Friday, is facing a spate of criminal cases, including one of forging an Aadhar card.

In another instance, a few days ago, Pachauri and two other BJP MPs -- Devendra Singh Bhole from Akbarpur and Ashok Rawat from Misrikh -- had strongly objected to assembly Speaker Satish Mahana convening a meeting of Kanpur officials to discuss development.

The three MPs abstained from the meeting after they sent a letter to the commissioner, Kanpur division, seeking to cancel the meeting and raised questions about the Speaker holding such a meeting.

They questioned the Speaker's domain and indicated that holding such a meeting was an infringement on MPs' rights.

The letter underlined that the district development coordination and monitoring committee meeting to review development work takes place under the chairmanship of Ashok Rawat.

A copy of the letter was marked to the chief minister.

An unfazed Mahana went ahead with the meeting.

Mahana said he was well within his rights to chair this meeting. "I represent the Maharajpur constituency in Kanpur and have been holding such meetings and will keep doing it. My only aim is to ensure there is no hurdle in development work," he said.

Devendra Singh Bhole said, "Mahana holds a constitutional post, he should follow constitutional norms. The way his advisor wrote the letter for this meeting, is wrong."

The meeting was being seen as a "tug of war" over the Kanpur and Akbarpur Lok Sabha seats coming out in the open, said party insiders.

Earlier, Dhaurhara MP Rekha Varma wrote a letter, levelling charges against a woman official regarding her involvement in a paddy purchase scam.

The letter went viral on the social media and gave ammunition to the opposition that had already been levelling similar charges.

Former BJP MLA from Dumariaganj, Raghvendra Pratap Singh, used abusive language against party MP Jagdambika Pal at a public function and the party chose to ignore his behaviour.

Last month, it was BJP MP from Kaiserganj, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who put out videos claiming that elected representatives were forced to touch the feet of bureaucrats.

He also slammed Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev and demanded a probe against him, knowing fully well that the latter enjoyed a warm relationship with the BJP high command.

Surprisingly, despite about half a dozen cases of violation of party discipline, the BJP leadership has not initiated any action in the matter.

A senior party functionary said, "MPs who know that they may be denied tickets in 2024 on grounds of age or non-performance, are creating an alibi. The countdown for the Lok Sabha polls has begun and such actions are best ignored."

One of the MPs, however, said that they had been forced to speak up only because the party was ignoring key issues.

"In the coming days, more and more leaders will speak up because with elections round the corner, we are answerable to the people too," he said.

Source: IANS