Assistant says ABVP leader threatened BJP MP, gets him jailed

Party workers, who have been protesting for the last two days, have even taken out a funeral procession of the MP in the city. While a dharna has been staged at the collectorate, BJP leaders also took out a procession on Wednesday.

On April 14, Rawat had organised ‘Samrasta Bhoj’ (lunch with Dalits) at her residence in Laxmanpuri colony of Barabanki. Patel reportedly received a call to attend the event. However, he turned down the invite, as he was busy preparing for his examination.

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“Before the phone was disconnected, Ram Kumar Mishra alias Chandan — the personal assistant of the MP — allegedly abused him for giving excuses for not attending the programme. When Patel called back to say that he was actually sitting for the examination, Chandan asked him to come over at the MP’s residence for a chat,” ABVP worker Amit Verma, who reportedly was present at the time when Patel had received phone call, said.

When Patel reached Rawat’s residence, Chandan allegedly misbehaved with him again and a heated argument followed. However, the matter was settled following intervention of other leaders present there. However, Verma claimed, Chandan lodged a complaint with the police, alleging that Patel had issued life threats to Rawat.

“Patel was picked up around 11 am from his home on Tuesday. We pleaded that MP madam was not present at the spot when the argument took place. But Patel was booked for criminal intimidation and under SC/ST Act. Patel was sent to jail, following which he missed his exams,” Verma said.

Other local ABVP leaders confirmed the incident. “We cannot tolerate it. The MP hardly cares for any worker. She often misbehaves with us and no BJP leader has the courage to talk to her,” leader Sriniwas Tripathi said. He claimed that Patel too had lodged a complaint against Rawat’s staff but it was not entertained by the police.

Senior leaders, including former district president Santosh Singh, state vice-president of BJP’s wing Kisan Morcha, Sudhir Singh Sidhu and Barabanki Municipal Board Chairman Ranjit Bahadur Srivastava, all extended support to Patel.

“It is a fight between neta and karyakarta. We are with karyakartas. A dedicated worker has been sent to jail and his complaint has not been entertained by the police. The argument occurred between the MP’s staff and she was not even present there,” Santosh Singh said.

District BJP president Sharad Awasthi, meanwhile, termed the matter as a minor issue within the “parivar”. He, however, did not reply when asked why the MP had reached out to the police instead of settling the matter within the “parivar”. “What can I do? I have submitted a report to the state party headquarters. Now, senior leaders should settle the matter… it is beyond my reach,” Awasthi said.

ABVP’s Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand in charge, Dharampal Singh, said: “Talks are being held to settle the matter. It is a local issue and we are trying to settle it.”

Despite repeated attempts, Priyanka did not respond to phone calls. Her police gunner said: “Madam is busy in Parliament session.”

Earlier, Rawat, who had defeated Congress leader P L Punia in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, was in news when she nominated her father Uttam Ram as her official representative defying Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s directives. To discourage the system of ministers appointing relatives as personal staff, the Modi government, in its first order, had said ministers will have to choose from a general pool.

Rawat had defended the move on the ground that there was too much infighting among local BJP leaders. She, however, withdrew the decision when the matter reached the top leadership.