BSP MLA: BJP is anti-brahmin, CM Yogi settling scores

Lucknow: The Bahujan Samaj Party on Thursday accused the Yogi Adityanath government of being anti-brahmin and alleged that the chief minister was settling personal scores with his political opponents.

BSP MLA Vinay Shankar Tiwari raised the issue of a police raid at his Gorakhpur residence on April 22. He said that the police raided his residence without a search warrant and when he contacted senior police officials, they feigned ignorance about the matter. He said that some of his gau-palaks (cow caretakers) were taken away by the cops who tortured them and then released them.

Parliamentary affairs minister, Suresh Khanna, said that the police had received information that some criminals involved in a bank loot case were hiding at Mr Tiwari’s residence and the cops were well within their rights to carry out a search operation. He said that the police had not entered the residence of the MLA.

Mr Vinay Shankar Tiwari claimed that he had video footage to prove that the cops had entered his home and stated that his father had been acquitted in all his cases.

The minister signalled for trouble when he said, “The MLA’s father (Hari Shankar Tiwari) has been a senior legislator and also a minister. He has 31 criminal cases against his name”.

BSP legislature party leader Lalji Varma alleged that the incident was an attempt to malign a Brahmin leader and reflected the anti-Brahmin mentality of the BJP.

He alleged that the Tiwari family was politically opposed to chief minister Yogi Adityanath and now that the latter was chief minister, he was using his power to settle personal scores.