Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Sunday supported his state police's findings in Hindu Samaj Party (HSP) leader Kamlesh Tiwari's murder saying the truth in the case is "almost out".
He said the allegation levelled by deceased Tiwari's mother that a local BJP leader was involved in her son's killing over a land dispute must have been made in "anguish".
Tiwari, 45, earlier associated with a faction of the Hindu Mahasabha, was killed at his home in Lucknow on Friday. Five people were detained, including three in Gujarat's Surat, in connection with his murder.
Uttar Pradesh police had said on Saturday that the suspects were "radicalised" and appeared to have targeted him for his inflammatory remarks made in 2015.
Talking to reporters at the BJP office in Indore, Maurya said, "Kamlesh Tiwari murder case has been cracked. The truth of this incident has almost come out before the country."
Tiwari's mother Kusuma has accused a local BJP leader of killing her son over a land dispute.
When asked about this, Maurya said, "Tiwari might have had enmity with someone. But this is a different side. Tiwari's mother is definitely in great anguish. We respect her."
"Tiwari's murder is being investigated very closely. I think the culprits who killed him will be sent to the gallows. Uttar Pradesh Police will take all necessary steps in this direction," he said.
On the BJP's Maharashtra election manifesto raising the demand for the Bharat Ratna for Hindutva icon V D Savarkar, he said, "Mahatma Gandhi and Savarkar were not opposed to each other. There was no difference of opinion on the issue that the country should be freed from the British."
To a query on Congress describing Savarkar as one of the accused in Mahatma Gandhi's assassination case, Maurya said, "When Savarkar was acquitted of all charges in this case, should you (the media) ask a question about this? Questions should not be raised about such a personality (Savarkar), who struggled to give us the right to live as citizens of an independent country."
"We have honoured Bhimrao Ambedkar and Sardar Patel. Now we are going to honour Savarkar. When the time comes, we will also honour Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule and other great leaders," Maurya, who is BJP's co-incharge for Maharashtra elections, said.
In view of the retaliatory action of the Indian Army near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP leader accused the Congress of always raising questions about the bravery of the country's Army.
"Congress should welcome our Army's success. But they (Congress leaders) ask for a certificate of this success. Whenever the country needs to convey a message of solidarity, Congress starts using the language of neighbouring country to benefit Pakistan," he said.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had on Saturday hit out at Union Minister Piyush Goyal over his remarks on Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee, saying the government's job is to improve the "collapsing" economy and not to run a "comedy circus".
Asked about this, Maurya said, "Priyanka should be asked why her brother Rahul Gandhi lost the Amethi seat in the last Lok Sabha elections.
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