Samajwadi Party protests engineer's lynching in Uttar Pradesh

Calcutta News.Net
Wednesday 24th December, 2008 (IANS)

The Samajwadi Party has called for a shutdown in Uttar Pradesh Thursday after a ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator was arrested for lynching a government engineer, and also has asked the central government to seek the governor's report on the state's law and order.

Party general secretary Amar Singh said Public Works Department engineer Manoj Gupta was thrashed by BSP legislator Shekhar Tiwari and his musclemen after he failed to raise the requisite sum demanded by the legislator to be given as gift to Chief Minister Mayawati on her birthday Jan 15.

Amar Singh said his party workers would organise a state-wide shutdown Thursday to protest the killing by Tiwari and his henchmen, who barged into the engineer's house in the middle of the night and thrashed him.

Singh said he also expected that the Congress party would also support the call.

The state administration said the killing had no connection with Mayawati.

Decrying the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, Singh said earlier a police officer, facing consistent pressure from Mayawati's henchmen to give fund to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), had committed suicide owing to his failure to do so.

Singh alleged BSP workers were behind the killing of four businessmen in Baghpat district as they had refused to extortion money.

In Lucknow, Samajwadi Party leaders told a press conference that state legislators and ministers have been asked to donate specific amounts for the chief minister's birthday.

'For example, Naseemuddin Siddiqui has to pay Rs.15 crore (Rs.150 milion), Nakul Dubey has to give Rs.5 crore, Satish Mishra Rs.20 crore and Ram Achal Rajbhar has to give Rs.5 crore,' Samajwadi Party state president Shivpal Yadav said.

'The contribution has been fixed depending upon the ministry and post enjoyed by the legislators and MPs,' Yadav said.

The Uttar Pradesh Engineers' Association declared an indefinite strike to protest the killing.

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