The Hindu : Two Independent MLAs arrested in U.P.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 04, 2002

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Two Independent MLAs arrested in U.P.

By J.P. Shukla

Raghuraj Pratap Singh

LUCKNOW Nov. 3. In a dramatic turn to the political developments in Uttar Pradesh, two independent MLAs, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias `Raja Bhaiyya' and Dhananjay Singh, were arrested today for allegedly intimidating a BJP legislator, Puran Singh Bundela, who had on Saturday announced his intention of leaving the dissidents and going back to the party fold.

In his FIR at the Cantonment police station here, Mr. Bundela alleged that two MLAs had threatened him yesterday of dire consequences for retracting his decision to remain with the BJP dissidents. Police raided the residential premises of the MLAs early today and took them into custody. (A PTI report said the duo were produced in court and had been remanded to judicial custody till November 8. The Gangster Act was also slapped on them.)

Mr. Raghuraj and Mr. Dhananjay were among the seven independent MLAs who had met the Governor, Vishu Kant Shastri, last month to inform him about withdrawing support to the Government headed by the Bahujan Samaj Party leader, Mayawati.

Talking to newspersons outside the court, the MLAs alleged that the charges levelled against them were false and claimed that they were being victimised by the Mayawati Government for political reasons. The Chief Minister was trying to remain in power by coercing MLAs to support her Government but they would not be cowed down, they added. As the news of the arrest broke, groups of Samajwadi Party workers rushed to stage a demonstration at the residence of the Senior Superintendent of Police. The workers raised slogans and said "it was a murder of democracy".

A group of SP leaders, led by the principal general secretary, Shivpal Singh Yadav, called on the Governor, Vishnu Kant Shastri, to apprise him of the "undemocratic arrests".

They handed over a memorandum urging him "to stop the victimisation of the Opposition legislators". Four dissident BJP MLAs, including Ganga Bhakt Singh and Ramashish Rai, separately met Mr. Shastri to reiterate that the Government was "victimising its opponents", which should be immediately stopped.

The SP leader, Amar Singh, told presspersons later that the arrest of the MLAs "was a conspiracy hatched by the Government. Those who were in power were involved in this heinous action with the only objective of saving the Mayawati Government." He alleged that the Governor "was not behaving as a constitutional authority but as an RSS activist". He reiterated that his party enjoyed the support of a majority of the MLAs and should be invited to form a government.

Meanwhile, reports said the BJP leadership had succeeded in winning back some MLAs from the dissident camp. Besides Puran Singh Bundela, three others — Awadh Pal Singh, Shiva Kant Ojha and Ravindra Pundir — today said they had "no plans" of joining any breakaway group. Their fight was from within the BJP as loyal members of the organisation. Party sources expressed the hope that the number of dissidents would come down further in the next few days.

Mayawati defends move

PTI reports:

Ms. Mayawati, in a statement, denied that the police action was "politically motivated" and said the MLAs had been prosecuted under the provisions of the law. "No one will be allowed take the law into his hands," she said.

She said the duo was trying to destabilise the Government "by threatening other legislators with muscle power" but so far none had come forward to lodge a police report against them.

"Both the legislators have been involved in criminal acts for a long time and have been avoiding punishment by threatening witnesses," she said, adding that action could not be taken against them due to their political and criminal influence.

The statement said that 16 cases of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, theft, threatening and kidnapping were pending against Mr. Raghuraj while 22 cases of a similar nature were pending against Mr. Dhananjay.

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