Hundreds of BSP workers today took to the streets here demanding the immediate arrest of Dayashankar Singh for his derogatory remarks against party supremo Mayawati even as police carried out raids in Lucknow and Ballia to trace the now expelled BJP leader and detained his brother.
Leading the protest at the busy Hazratganj crossing, leader of opposition in the Legislative Council, Naseemuddin Siddiqui said the administration is being given 36 hours to arrest Singh.
The party workers held the protest for about five hours beginning 8 AM. Siddiqui ended the protest around noon after giving the ultimatum to the District Magistrate that Singh be arrested quickly.
Police said raids have been conducted in Lucknow and Ballia to arrest Singh. In Ballia, Singh's brother Dharmendra was taken into custody from his house, SP, Manoj Jha said.
Since early morning party workers from different districts converged at the Ambedkar statue at the Hazratganj crossing on the call of the party to stage dharna against Singh.
In the dharna, which threw traffic out of for hours, a BSP worker was slightly injured while trying to set an effigy ablaze.
Singh had sparked an outrage by his derogatory comments against the BSP supremo. He had stated that "Mayawati is breaking the dream of Kanshi Ram into pieces. Mayawati is selling tickets like a...
Reacting to the protests, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the issue is over and the BJP has already taken action against him.
"This issue is over. We took action against him. Now what else should we do, tell? What he said was completely objectionable. The leader of the House too condemned the statement at the earliest. He was removed from his post, and later on he was suspended also. Let them protest, they keep on protesting; be it Congress or others. The thing is that BJP is moving ahead, and they can't digest that," he said.
The state's Samajwadi Party government has made it clear that action as per law will be taken against Singh on the basis of the FIR.
Last night, an FIR was lodged against Singh under sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups), 504 (intentional insult with intent to breach peace) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act after a complaint against him was lodged with Hazratganj police by party national secretary Mevalal Gautam.
