Click to play videoLucknow: Criminalisation of politics has hit a new low in Uttar Pradesh where an engineer with the Public Works Department was murdered allegedly because he did not contribute to Chief Minister Mayawati's birthday funds.
An MLA of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party has been arrested in connection with the assault.
Manoj Gupta was killed when MLA Rajneesh Tiwari’s men allegedly barged into his house in Auraiya - 250 km from state capital Lucknow - locked his wife in the bathroom and then beat him up.
Gupta was then taken in a critically injured state and dumped at the local police station by Tiwari.
The engineer's relatives allege that Tiwari was demanding Rs 50 lakh for Mayawati's birthday celebrations.
"He refused to pay the huge amount that was being asked for. They beat him, then took him to police station and beat them there too,” says one of Gupta’s relatives.
An angry UP engineer's association is now demanding action. They say it has also blown the lid off Mayawati's worst kept secret: that government servants are used to collect funds for her party.
However, the administration denies this.
The top brass of the state administration, including Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh, Additional Cabinet Secretary V S Pandey, Principal Home Secretary Kunwar Fateh Bahadur and Director General of Police Vikram Singh told a hastily convened press conference that Mayawati's name was being dragged unnecessarily in the matter.
"The criminalisation of politics won’t happen. There’s no truth to funds collection charge. Unsubstantiated reports will only spoil the reputation of government,” Shashank Shekhar Singh said.
But the issue has already snowballed into a major political crisis. With Mayawati looking a serious political threat, Congress and BJP were quick to attack her.
"This is condemnable, outrageous. UP government should take immediate action,” said BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Before Mayawati was sworn into power, she used to scoff at ads thanking Mulayam for controlling crime. Now it’s her turn to face the heat.
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