'Why no action?' Akhilesh asks UP govt over lawyer-MLA skirmish

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday referred to a recent skirmish between and lawyer and an MLA in a cooperative bank election to denounce the BJP government, saying the members of the ruling party were acting as per their whims and fancies.

On October 9, an advocate slapped a local BJP legislator during the nomination for the Urban Cooperative Bank’s election, prompting the BJP to issue several show cause notices to the people involved.

“Nowadays, you must be seeing that the people from the BJP are acting as per their whims and fancies. Who has not seen that in Lakhimpur an MLA was slapped! And then what action was taken. Should the administration not have taken suo motu action?” Yadav said.

The altercation between BJP MLA from Lakhimpur Kheri Sadar, Yogesh Verma, and senior advocate Awadhesh Singh occurred over allegations of bypassing of rules in the election.

“There was a dispute between the two sides, which escalated into pushing and shoving,” a police officer said last week.

On Sunday, Awadhesh Singh, who was caught on camera slapping the MLA, was given a grand welcome by a Hindu right group, with participants hailing him with chants “Sher Aya, Sher Aya”.