New Delhi: With the high stake bypolls pending in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has decided to take on the "UP ke do ladke" -- Congress' Rahul Gandhi and SP's Akhilesh Yadav. The saffron party on Tuesday alleged the recent rise in political strength of "do ladke" is behind criminals getting emboldened in Uttar Pradesh and accused the INDIA bloc parties of helping each other defend criminal elements of their alliance partners as well.
The law and order is one of the main poll planks of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. Sharpening its attacks on the SP, the BJP targeted Mr Yadav's party over the arrest of two persons allegedly associated with it on the charges of rape and attempt to rape incidents that happened in Ayodhya and Kannauj.
BJP MP and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said not only the SP has been giving "cover fire" to criminals. He said the members of the Opposition alliance are helping each other defend criminal elements of their alliance partners as well.
"Those associated with two boys have been committing crimes. The audacity of criminals has been rising since the recent increase in the strength of these two boys," said Mr Trivedi in an apparent reference to Mr Gandhi and Mr Yadav, whose alliance outperformed the BJP-led NDA in Uttar Pradesh in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP MP alleged that it is in the DNA of the SP to stand with criminals, as he took a swipe at the regional party's demand for the DNA testing to prove the guilt of the accused in one of the cases.
“We have all seen how a leader of the SP, Moid Khan, was accused of raping a minor and how shamelessly politics was played over it… Now again in Kannauj, a leader associated with the SP has been accused of serious charges of raping a minor and attempting to rape. We believe that crime and criminals should not be judged based on caste, creed, sect, religion or political affiliation, They should only be seen as criminals...instead of showing sensitivity, various demands are being made...some are demanding DNA tests, others are asking for more,” said the BJP leader.
The BJP also raised the rape and murder case of a doctor in a government-run hospital in Kolkata to slam the West Bengal government, saying the way protection has been given to the criminals in the incident is more tragic than the incident itself.
Mr Trivedi targeted West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee for her stand that she will transfer the case of rape and murder of a doctor in a government-run hospital in Kolkata to the CBI if the local police did not solve the case till Sunday.
“Is so much time being given so that the case can be manipulated,” he asked.
Questioning the "silence" of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over these crimes, the BJP alleged that the INDIA bloc parties are covering up for "mutual criminal elements" in their alliance.
