Guddu Pandit,two other MLAs join SP

SP also announced to field the two sitting BJP MLAs from the respective constituencies and Guddu Pandit from Dibai and Gomti Yadav from Bakshi Ka Talab Assembly seat in Lucknow. The SP would also field Vishwa Dayal Chotan from Rampur Maniharan seat.

Guddu Pandit was booked in two cases after he won the Assembly election in 2007. In June,2008,he was arrested after a research scholar in Agra University accused him of rape. The case was lodged in Kashiram Nagar district.

Pandit was again arrested last year in December,when he and his associates abducted 14 members of Jahangirabad Block Development Committee in Bulandshahr during the panchayat elections.

Welcoming the three into the party fold,Akhilesh Yadav said the SP would field them in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state from their respective seats.

Seeking to downplay the criminal antecedents of the BSP MLA,the SP state president said “During the BSP rule,thousands of people have been framed in false cases. Moreover Guddu Pandit has been exonerated of the charges by the court.”

Meanwhile in a swift move,the BJP suspended its two MLAs and expelled the state secretary on charges of anti-party activities. “Both the MLAs have been suspended and party will soon file petition before the Speaker seeking their disqualification from the membership of the Assembly,” said BJP spokesman HN Dikshit.

The BSP said by deciding to join the SP,Guddu Pandit has attracted the provisions of the anti defection law and the party would soon file a petition with the Speaker seeking his disqualification from the membership of the state assembly. It said Pandit had been suspended from the party long back. “BSP supremo Mayawati had already suspended Pandit as he was found involved in criminal activities. He was also denied BSP ticket for the coming Assembly elections,” the party spokesman said.

The BSP spokesman said that Guddu Pandit has now chosen the right party where criminals are patronised. The BSP spokesman claimed that as many as 15 criminal cases are registered against Guddu Pandit.

Meanwhile Guddu Pandit has denied the charges leveled against him by the BSP. “I was framed in false charges at the behest of Cabinet Secretary Sashank Shekhar Singh,who never liked my access to the chief minister,” alleged the BSP MLA,adding “till 2007 Assembly election there was not a single FIR against me either at my home district Gautam Buddha Nagar or in Dibai in Bulandsahr district from where I contested the 2007 Assembly election and won’’.

“I used to frequently meet the chief minister whenever she visited Delhi,which was not liked by the cabinet secretary. First a false case of sexual harassment was registered against me by one Sheetal at Kasganj police station,now in Kanshiram Nagar district,the court exonerated me of all the charges,” claimed Guddu Pandit.

“I was framed in false case of abduction during the panchayat elections December 2010. My younger brother Mukesh Sharma,who was the BSP candidate in 2009 Lok Sabha polls from Baghpat Lok sabha seat,was also arrested in that case and NSA was also imposed on both of us,” said Guddu Pandit.

“I will soon hold a press conference and place all the relevant facts before the media including the court orders in his favour in the false cases registered against me at the behest of the cabinet secretary,” said Guddu Pandit.