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‘Akhilesh began sweating’: BJP slams SP chief over convoy attack on Karhal candidate Baghel
Union ministers Anurag Thakur and Piyush Goyal condemned the attack on the convoy of party's Karhal candidate SP Singh Baghel on Tuesday evening. Notably, Baghel is up against Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav from the Karhal seat in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
Union minister Piyush Goyal and Anurag Thakur on Wednesday slammed the Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Akhilesh Yadav over the attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Karhal candidate SP Singh Baghel's convoy late Tuesday evening. Thakur has lodged a complaint to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and demanded strict action against the attackers.
Calling the attackers “SP goons”, Thakur claimed that the incident was a result of Akhilesh fearing his defeat in Karhal from where he will be contesting the ongoing Uttar Pradesh assembly polls for the first time. “I had to come to [the] EC as after the first and second phases of Uttar Pradesh elections, Akhilesh started sweating. His workers and goons are instigating violence,” he told news agency ANI.
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Thakur also referred to the attack on BJP MP and party's UP Mahila Morcha chief Geeta Shakya on February 14, stating that the incident shows the SP “does violence against women”.
The Union minister said the SP carries out these kinds of incidents in every Mainpuri poll, adding that the BJP has demanded CCTVs on every polling booth of Uttar Pradesh and flag marches a day before voting in Mainpuri with paramilitary force deployment.
Goyal, meanwhile, said that the attack on Baghel showed the “reality” of the SP “once again”. “I think Akhilesh Yadav is perturbed after SP Singh Baghel was fielded against him,” the Union commerce minister was quoted as saying by ANI.
Goyal added that before 2017, there was an “environment of fear” in Uttar Pradesh due to mafia raj and criminal activities.
The attack on Baghel's convoy on Tuesday evening occurred when he was returning after a campaign in Mainpuri. Superintendent of Police (Mainpuri) Madhuban Singh said that the attackers - a group of men, emerged from a nearby farm field and raised slogans against the BJP leader. In his FIR, Baghel said that stones were pelted and sticks were thrown at the car, which caused the glasses of the vehicle to break. Earlier in the day, it was reported that Baghel's security cover has been upgraded from ‘Y+’ to ‘Z’ by the Union home ministry.
