Uttar Pradesh BJP in bike row amid note ban

Lucknow: While the Centre is facing a collective Opposition’s wrath for bad implementation of the demonetisation move, the BJP in Uttar Pradesh has stoked another controversy by having reportedly bought 248 TVS motorbikes in Gorakhpur before the Assembly elections in UP.

The bikes were reportedly bought from a TVS outlet in Basharatpur, Shahpur, and registered at Gorakhpur’s Regional Transport Office. The BJP office is said to have paid Rs 2,668 for the registration of each bike. All have been allotted numbers starting UP-53, which is Gorakhpur’s registered number.

The total cost of the 248 bikes is estimated at Rs 92 lakh, which works out to Rs 37,105 per motorbike. According to a news portal, uttarpradesh.org, the bikes are parked at Jungle Chanwari, Gorakhpur.

While the BJP has maintained silence on the matter, the news portal has reported that 188 of the motorbikes are registered in the name of the party’s regional office in Beniganj, Gorakhpur.

A local BJP leader, Upendra Dutt Shukla, however, denied having any information about this. The motorbikes are speculated to be used for campaigning in the upcoming Assembly election.

The Samajwadi Party and BSP have demanded a probe in the matter since they claim that the payments have been made in cash.

BJP spokesman Hriday Narain Dixit said that the party was launching ‘Kamal Sandesh Yatra’ from December 18 in which party workers will travel on two wheelers to carry Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message to the people. The Yatra will be flagged off by state president Keshav Maurya.

The UP BJP has rejected the charges of the use of unaccounted money by it in the purchase of motor bikes in Gorakhpur for campaign in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. State BJP president Keshav Maurya said that the party works through proper channel.