Stung by the criticism of senior leader Shvipal Yadav by BJP chief Amit Shah, the Samajwadi Party came out in his defence and dared Shah to present evidence to substantiate his allegations over the Mathura violence.
"Either Amit Shah should come up with evidence or seek apology," said senior MlC and former Revenue minister Ambika Chaudhary in lucknow on Sunday.
Earlier on Saturday, state SP in-charge Shivpal Yadav had made similar demands to the BJP president.
"The charges levelled by Shah in Kanpur on Saturday asking CM Akhilesh Yadav to dismiss the PWD minister are highly objectionable. How can he ask the CM to sever ties with his uncle Shivpal Yadav," argued Choudhary.
The SP leader added, "The criminal background of the BJP chief is an open fact. He engineered the fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan in Ahmedabad and was later externed from Gujarat on the orders of court.’’.
Chaudhary however said, "The party will not file a defamation suit in the court abd instead take the matter to the people’s court.’’
He also rejected the demand of a CBI probe into the Mathura violence, saying that the UP government had already ordered a probe by the Divisional Commissioner of Aligarh and the inquiry will bring out all relevant facts.
Criticising the Opposition for raking up the law and order situation of UP, Chaudhary said that the situation in UP was much better than other states in the country.
"Can the BJP tell explain what is happening in Haryana and what is its government doing there IJ" he asked. The SP leader also asked the BJP to clarify on which side they were as their statements indicated that they were supporting the encroachers.
Chaudhary said that the state government has fully supported police action in Mathura and it deeply regretted the death of the two police officers.
``The BJP is so blinded with its objective of drawing political mileage from the tragedy in Mathura that they have not even expressed their grief on the death of the police officers," said the SP leader.
The former Revenue minister however remained evasive on most querries put up by scribes wanting to know when would the Chief Minister be visiting Mathura or whether the government was considering to hand over the encroached land to the 'satyagrahis on lease'.