A group of youths, claiming to be supporters of BJP leader Varun Gandhi, today staged a protest in front of the house of local MP Shyama Charan Gupta here over the latter's reported statement wherein he had criticised the party's former national general secretary and his mother and Union Minister Maneka Gandhi.
The incident took place around noon when nearly a dozen youths gathered in front of the house of Gupta, and burnt the effigy of the industrialist-turned-politician who had joined the BJP and won a party ticket barely a month before the Allahabad Lok Sabha constituency went to polls.
The protesters, who were carrying the party flag, termed Gupta as an "outsider" alluding to his long association with Samajwadi Party and condemned his statement made on Saturday wherein he had criticised Maneka for trying to project her son as a potential chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pradesh.
They also tore apart a huge banner put up alongside Gupta's palatial residence.
Gupta had, reacting to the BJP's debacle in the recent bypolls, reportedly said that Maneka had caused harm to the party by coming out in the open with the demand for a bigger role for her son who was removed from the post of national general secretary after Amit Shah took over as BJP president.
Meanwhile, reacting to the incident, city BJP president Shashi Varshney said "prima facie it seems to be the handiwork of hooligans who are not our full-time workers and who had merely carried the party flag to create mischief".
"I am at present in Lucknow. Nevertheless, upon returning to Allahabad I would seek a detailed report and if any party worker is found directly or indirectly involved, proper disciplinary action would follow," Varshney told PTI on phone.
