Tripathi’s jail party: What’s wrong, asks CM

But State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Azam Khan today insisted that no rules were broken. ‘‘No one is a born criminal, and the Samajwadi Party believes in transformation of criminals. You can’t stop anyone from celebrating any occasion — concerning him, his family or near and dear ones — within the premises of the jail. As per my knowledge, there was no violation of the jail manual.’’

In any case, jail authorities apparently didn’t do anything to stop the party or Amarmani, a Samjawadi Party legislator, from going ahead with it. Amarmani enjoys considerable clout in the state and among his numerous visitors are Chief Minister Mulayam Singh’s brother.

Asked about the media outcry over the Sunday dinner, Khan said: ‘‘Charchit vyaktiyon ki hi charcha hoti hai (Well-known people are the ones talked about).’’

Meanwhile, Opposition leaders used the issue to nail the Mulayam Government. ‘‘This government is being run by criminals. This explains why there is no surprise at gala parties being thrown inside jail barracks, with active participation of the jail staff. The government can ignore the issue but people are watching everything, and they will give their reply at the polls,’’ said Swami Prasad Maurya, BSP Legislature Party leader.

‘‘This is a serious issue and the government cannot turn a blind eye to it. Nobody should be allowed free movement inside the jail, doing whatever he wants to do alongwith his supporters,’’ added senior BJP leader Om Prakash Singh.

Congress Legislature Party leader Pramod Tiwari termed the incident as ‘‘disgusting’’. Demanding a probe into the matter, he said punitive action should be taken against the guilty officials.