BJP slams ‘ungrateful’ Mayawati, demands action against Siddiqui

Lucknow, July 23 : Reminding BSP supremo Mayawati the incident of June 2, 1995, when the saffron party came to her defence after she was attacked in the state guest house in Lucknow, the BJP today said the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister's desperate attempts to play politics on the controversy surrounding expelled leader Dayashankar Singh clearly indicates that she is ungrateful. Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Keshav Prashad Maurya said the BSP has lost its political existence in Uttar Pradesh. "There is chaos in the BSP. Her desperate attempt to play politics on this issue clearly shows that she is ungrateful. Behenji had to go through a very untoward incident on June 2, 1995, and the BJP helped and protected her in that hour of crisis," said Maurya. "It was the BJP's morals that both her life and values were protected. But it now seems that she has forgotten the episode of June 2, 1995," he added while responding to a poser on Mayawati's assertion that the BJP and Samajwadi Party have indulged in a political conspiracy to malign her reputation. Maurya said the BJP found the statement made by Dayashankar Singh against Mayawati incorrect and eventually expelled him from the party. "But the Bharatiya Janata Party condemns the use of derogatory language against Dayashankar Singh's daughter and sister during the protests on 21st (July 21) under the directions of Mayawati," he added. Maurya demanded that Mayawati should sack BSP general secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui from his position and expel him from the party for his derogatory slur on the expelled BJP leader's wife and daughter. "With this demand, the BJP is today staging protests in all district headquarters and we will also submit a memorandum in this regard to the honourable Governor after 2 p.m.," he said. Siddiqui, however, yesterday refused to express any regret, saying he or his party workers didn't say anything "obscene" or "objectionable" during their protest against the expelled BJP leader on Thursday. Siddiqui, instead, claimed that the FIR, lodged by Dayashankar's family members, was a BJP "ploy" to "save" the expelled leader, who is absconding after being booked for making derogatory remarks against Mayawati. The BSP leader alleged that the BJP has tried to give "a new twist" to the matter to distract public attention and regain political ground lost by it due to its expelled leader's abusive remarks. Commenting on the charges that the BSP leaders raised slogans asking the expelled BJP leader to "present his daughter and sister", Siddiqui said that his party workers "only wanted to "ask them if they agreed with the derogatory remarks made by him against Mayawati. The expelled BJP leader's wife has lodged an FIR against Mayawati and Siddiqui.