Keeping corruption on the top of its agenda for the UP Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party state unit has resolved to raise the issue of tainted engineer Yadav Singh in the 2017 polls to corner both the ruling Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The BJP believes that by targeting Yadav Singh, it will able to kill two birds – SP and BSP - with one stone (Yadav Singh) on the issue of corruption.Inaugurating the two-day state executive meeting of the party in Mirzapur on Saturday, BJP state president laxmikant Bajpai demanded a CBI probe into the corrupt practices of the tainted engineer of Noida in nexus with the BSP and SP leaders. “Only a CBI probe can nail the guilty in the scam,” Bajpai said, adding that the present SP Government was giving patronage to Singh and his accomplices. He said the BJP would make people aware of the wrongdoings of the SP Government and the previous BSP regime that led to large-scale corruption in the state.
Bajpai also demanded that the names of people listed in the diary of Singh be made public.He also said the BJP would contest the Cantonment Board polls at 11 places in the state under its symbol. Criticising the state Government for the delay in payment of cane dues to the farmers, the BJP state president said that the Centre had given Rs 1,100 crore to UP but the state was sitting on the fund.Bajpai made these announcements at the inaugural session of the two-day BJP state executive meeting which opened at Deorah Baba Ashram in Mirzapur on Saturday morning.
Interestingly, the leaders avoided raising the issue of conversions as it is not on the agenda of the executive meeting. The conversion issue may figure in the meeting on the second day.Bajpai had made it clear on Friday that conversion was not on the agenda of the meeting and there was no question of any discussion on it. However, sources in the party said that though the issue was not to be discussed in the party forum, it could be a point of discussion between senior leaders at the meet.
During the BJP state executive meet at Vrindavan in August this year, the issue of ‘love jihad’ had rocked the state and it was slated to be discussed in the meeting. But at the last moment, the discussion was put off. The issue of conversion is now a hot topic of debate and all political parties are criticising the BJP and the Hindu organisations for the controversy.The main agenda of the meeting are membership drive, Cantonment Board and panchayat elections in the state and chalking out a road map for the Assembly elections scheduled in 2017. The BJP has invited around 275 party leaders including 35 office-bearers, nine spokespersons, members and special invitees for the meet.