New Delhi: There are more signs of disaffection brewing within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh (UP), this time from the political bastion of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Gorakhpur.
In a matter of days, two ruling party MLAs from the district in eastern UP have alleged threats to their lives accusing the ruling administration and police of inaction. The law and order in the state is directly controlled by Adityanath, by virtue of holding the home department portfolio.
Whatsoever might be the intent of the two MLAs behind publicly talking about their insecurity or the credibility of their allegations, the events undermine the image of the CM. With the BJP in the midst of an internal churn following its disastrous performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the fresh controversy involving two legislators and the administration could not have come at a worst time for it.
Fateh Bahadur Singh, the MLA from Campierganj, recently came out in public and alleged that Gorakhpur police were not taking any action on a death threat he apprehended. Singh wrote letters to Adityanath and Union home minister Amit Shah, drawing attention to an alleged conspiracy to murder him. He sought their intervention.
Singh, a former minister and a seven-time MLA, is the son of former UP CM Vir Bahadur Singh. He alleged that a BJP worker, who was the son of a BJP Zilla panchayat member, had collected Rs 5 crore to offer a contract to a shooter to murder him.
Singh accused the police of not acting on his complaint due to their “collusion” with the person accused by him of plotting to kill him. The person accused by Singh was Rajeev Ranjan Chaudhary, whose mother Saroj Devi is a Zilla panchayat member from Ward 15, Gorakhpur.
Singh told local media that the threat perceived by him could be linked to his political standing. “Those who want to contest elections against me feel that till I’m alive I will continue to win,” he said.
“There has been administrative lapse somewhere that no action is being taken,” the MLA said, accusing the local station House officer and circle officer of colluding with the accused.
Chaudhary dismissed Singh’s accusations, and in turn, alleged that it was the MLA who was threatening to lodge false cases against him and conspiring to get him killed.
Chaudhary said that he used to earlier work with Singh but the two fell apart after the MLA allegedly did not approve that Singh’s wife contested the urban body polls in 2023 against his wishes.
“Before Maharaj ji (Adityanath) took over, the MLA would lodge fake cases against thousands of people in Campierganj. He’s trying the same today, but since the government and administration are tight, his acts are not hearing any fruit,” said Chaudhary.
The BJP leader, in a video statement on social media, requested Adityanath to provide security to him and his family. Chaudhary said that Singh’s allegations about a plot to murder him were a fabricated story. “He has made my life hell and wants to send me to jail in a fake case. I’m a true karyakarta of BJP and Maharaj ji,” said Chaudhary.
Barely had the Singh-Chaudhary controversy unfolded that another MLA, Sarvan Kumar Nishad, publicly alleged that there was a threat to his life. Nishad, the legislator from Chauri Chaura, is the son of Sanjay Nishad, the president of the NISHAD Party, a BJP ally.
“Why was my security taken away even after I received threats to my life on two occasions,” the junior Nishad said on his Facebook page in a cryptic post.
Sarvan Kumar Nishad with Yogi Adityanath. Photo: X (Twitter)/@sonofnishadrajj
Later, he issued a press statement, in which he said that he had been allotted police security after he received death threats from someone lodged in a jail but the administration removed his security guard arbitrarily.
“Several leaders of the Nishad community have been murdered, be it Jamuna Nishad, dozens of other Nishad leaders or the recent murder of the father of Nishad community leader Mukesh Sahni’s father in Bihar. Despite this, the government and administration are removing my security and adopting an arbitrary attitude. The district administration is conspiring against me,” said Nishad.
He said he would soon meet Adityanath and inform him about the situation for action against the concerned officials.
Nishad also condemned the alleged harassment of a local BJP leader Deepak Kumar Jaiswal by the Chauri Chaura police. Jaiswal is a member of the BJP’s state executive committee of its OBC morcha. His wife is a Zilla panchayat member from Chauri Chaura.
Jaiswal alleged that police barged into his workplace and photographed him without his consent, calling him a “criminal”.
“It’s a critical situation, to live a suffocated life under our own government. It’s becoming difficult to safeguard my honour,” Jaiswal said.
Singh’s statement triggered the district administration into damage control mode, with the district police chief and district magistrate issuing a public statement clarifying the situation.
Senior superintendent of police Gorakhpur, Gaurav Grover, said that soon after they received Singh’s complaint, a special team was formed with multiple police agencies to investigate the matter.
The process of gathering information, questioning suspects and surveillance are going on, said Grover, adding that even the special task force of the state police had been roped in.
Grover said that Singh enjoyed Y-Plus security and had 11 police personnel for his protection. Six personal security officers worked in three eight-hour shifts, he said.
The SSP said that the MLA’s security was reviewed from time to time and “appropriate” legal action would be taken if any “important” facts come up during the investigation.
The officer also said that police had also taken action on the security concerns expressed by Chaudhary’s mother Saroj Devi.
District magistrate Gorakhpur, Krishna Karunesh, said action would be taken in the matter on the basis of the outcome of the probe by multiple agencies.
Gorakhpur police also issued a clarification on the allegations by Nishad. The district police said that from the present point of view of his security, Nishad had been allotted two guards, including an additional one. Nishad’s “security is reviewed from time to time”, said police.
