Morale of BJP legislators is at its lowest,’ warns Chauhan

LUCKNOW, JULY 22: The morale of BJP legislators is at its lowest. Talk to them individually and they will narrate their woes. God knows ho...

LUCKNOW, JULY 22: The morale of BJP legislators is at its lowest. Talk to them individually and they will narrate their woes. God knows how they will face the voters,” warns Ganga Singh Chauhan from his bed at King George Medical College in Lucknow.

The Hardoi MLA and his wife were attacked last Sunday by people armed with iron rods while the two slept. His wife Chandra Devi was killed while Chauhan himself suffered serious injuries in the attack.

Over the past week, Chauhan has repeatedly accused Hardoi Superintendent of Police S.S. Maheshwari of being responsible for the attack. He has further alleged that the SP was operating at the behest of the Energy Minister and Loktantrik Congress Party (LCP) chief Naresh Agarwal. Chauhan is also clearly dissatisfied with the action taken by the government — transferring the SP and recommending a CBI probe while the case is being investigated by a team of senior officials under the supervision of IG (Lucknow) Karmveer Singh.

“The CBI will take a minimum of six to seven months — if it agrees to probe the assault case. Till then no action will be taken against anyone. The assailants have not even been identified yet,” a senior police official admitted on condition of anonymity.

“My wife died in the attack and I suffered multiple injuries which will takemonths to heal. I had charged the SP for his involvement but my own party and government has taken no action so far,” the MLA complained while speaking to The Indian Express. What’s more, he says that party MLAs who were earlier vociferously supporting him, are letting the issue die down after Chief Minister R.P. Gupta virtually cleared Agarwal of any involvement in the attack.

The Chief Minister had termed Chauhan’s allegations against the SP and the Energy Minister as “an emotional outburst of an injured man”. But the legislator is still gunning for Agarwal.

“If I live, I will continue to oppose him because he is trying to finish the BJP in Hardoi,” Chauhan declared. This, despite confessing that though there has been a steady stream of party leaders — including Union Surface Transport Minister Rajnath Singh — there has been no “real support” from any quarter.

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“Rajnathji heard me patiently but what can he do? Had the situation been in his hand he would have become the Chief Minister,” Chauhan said.

This is not for the first time that the BJP legislator from Bilgram inHardoi district has complaint against the Energy Minister and it is also not the first time that his protests have gone unheard, he claims. “I had lodged complaint with Guptaji many months ago but he did nothing. The attack on me has proved that my apprehensions were not baseless,” Chauhan asserted.