SP demands ban on Yogi Adityanath from campaigning of UP bypolls

Lucknow, Sep 1: Samajwadi Party on Monday demanded the Election Commission to impose a ban on BJP MP Yogi Adityanath from campaigning of bypolls to 11 Assembly and one Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, slated for September 13 next, for his alleged remarks on "love jihad".

"The party has already written a letter to the commission to take action against Adityanath trying to incite communal passion by raising the issue of love jihad again and now it demands that he should be banned from campaigning," SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary here said.

He alleged that to benefit BJP in bypolls for 11 seats of Assembly and one of Lok Sabha, Adityanath was continuously making provocative comments. He said but now as the BJP MP has become more vocal, a ban should be imposed on him from campaigning.

"We have demanded the EC to take action against Adityanath let's see what it does. We will wait, but if the EC does not take any action then we will talk to the top leadership after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav returns from the Netherlands' visit and decide further strategy this week," Chaudhary said.

He alleged that as a part of strategy, BJP withdrew from the issue of "love jihad" during its state executive meeting, but "it was fuelling the issue behind the curtains through organisations like VHP, Hindu Yuva Vahini and Bajrang Dal". Terming dharna from BJP MPs from Uttar Pradesh against power crisis as farce, the spokesman alleged that they were only indulging into politics.

"BJP MPs are indulging into gimmickry on the issue of power crisis, law and order. They don't believe in Mahatma Gandhi, but they are staging a dharna infront of his statue. They are not concerned with issues related to the people," he alleged.

Chaudhary said the BJP MPs were not talking to the Centre on the issue of power crisis. "They are not cooperating and we will raise this issue before the people in by-elections," he said.

PTI