Lucknow

district administration forwards CD of Adityanath’s speech to EC

Controversial BJP MP Yogi Adityanath holds rally in Lucknow despite ban by state government #VitriolicYogi — TIMES NOW (@timesnow) September 10, 2014

Arrest me if you can: Uttar Pradesh BJP MP Yogi Adityanath #VitriolicYogi pic.twitter.com/JZkO48ZjGF — TIMES NOW (@timesnow) September 10, 2014

Sharing the stage with Yogi Adityanath, UP BJP chief dares the cops to arrest them — TIMES NOW (@timesnow) September 10,

Congress

demands arrest of Adityanath

(With inputs from PTI)

LUCKNOW: Defying a ban by the Lucknow district administration, BJP MP Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday addressed a rally in the city.Addressing the rally, Yogi Adityanath dared the state government to arrest him. "Arrest me, if you can," Yogi Adityanath said.Fearing a possible clash between the BJP and SP workers, the Lucknow administration had denied permission to BJP to hold rally in the city.Adityanath addressed the election meeting at Munshipulia area in Indira Nagar locality in favour of BJP candidate Gopalji Tondon, who is contesting from Lucknow East seat.When asked about Adityanath holding the meeting without permission of the administration, senior superintendent of police Pravin Kumar said the matter would be looked into and FIR would be lodged in it."We will look into it and lodge an FIR for holding the meeting without permission," Kumar said."BJP had earlier sought permission for holding the meeting and they were granted it. Later, they said they will not hold the meeting and the permission was cancelled. They again sought permission this evening but that could not be granted in a short time," he said.Earlier, addressing a rally in Lakhimpur Kheri, Yogi Adityanath dubbed the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh as the party of "a family".Adityanath claimed that the UP government's policies were "divisive and discriminatory".The controversial BJP leader was addressing an election rally in Nighasan through a mobile phone.He termed the SP's policies as "divisive and discriminatory".Adityanath was scheduled to participate in the rally with BJP's state unit chief Laxmikant Bajpai but due to some unspecified reasons, their visit was cancelled and the MP's address was relayed live through a mobile handset.In his brief address, Adityanath held the ruling SP responsible for what he called "poor" law and order, bad roads, electricity outages and plight of farmers in UP.Attacking the state government, the BJP leader claimed that a recent report by national crime bureau indicated the poor law and order situation in UP.He also criticised the Kanya Vidyadhan Yojna of the SP government and called it discriminatory.Barely a day after he was issued a notice by the Election Commission of India for alleged hate speech in Noida while campaigning for the assembly bye-elections, Bharatiya Janata party MP from Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath arrived in Lucknow and clandestinely addressed an election meeting in Munshipullia area, which comes under Lucknow East assembly constituency.Reacting to the sudden spate of development, district magistrate of Lucknow Raj Shekhar said, “The district administration has recorded the whole event, and would send a factual report to the Election Commission of India.” However, the DM did not specify whether permission was granted to Yogi to hold the impromptu public meeting on Wednesday morning or evening.Later in the night, the district administration issued a statement saying that on August 30, the Samajwadi party sought permission to hold a roadshow (on September 10), which would culminate at Munshipulia. The duration of the road show was from 3pm to 9pm. Subsequently on September 5, a similar request was made by the BJP candidate to allow a public meeting in Munshipullia Sabji Mandi, Sector 17, Indiranagar (from 6pm to 9pm).“On September 8 (Monday), the district administration granted permission to both SP and BJP to hold the public meeting at the respective place sought by them. However, after the permission was granted, the BJP leaders sought a change in the proposed venue — from Sabji Mandi to Munshipullia Crossing,” read the statement of the district administration and added that in the circumstance of both the venue lying in close proximity, there is always a likelihood of clashes and disruption of traffic.Late on Tuesday night, the district administration had cancelled the permissions to the Bharatiya Janata Party and Samajwadi Party from holding election rallies citing threat to law and order. Additional district magistrate (Lucknow West) Shrihari Pratap Shahi said, “Both the political parties (BJP and SP) were seeking permission for Munshipullia Crossroad as the venue of their public meeting on the last day of campaigning for the September 13 byelections.”He further stated that initially permission was given, but later it was withdrawn, as there could be possible threat to the law and order situation with a possible face-off among rival party workers. “Subsequently, both the parties also withdrew their requests. So far, no alternate site has been allotted to them, as they are yet to approach the relevant authorities for the same,” Shahi further informed. The same has also been reiterated in the statement issued by the district administration on Wednesday.Meanwhile, SP candidate Juhie Singh has cried foul, and said, “We are going to lodge a strong protest with the Election Commission of India. In fact, I am going to complain against my own government.” She further alleged that if ECI fails to cognizance of this event and act in an impartial manner, then it will come under a question mark.Congress on Wednesday demanded arrest of BJP MP Yogi Adityanath for allegedly making objectionable speeches during campaigning for assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh."The things being uttered by Gorakhpur MP indicate that he wants to bring in politics of hatred... Adityanath, who is talking about love jihad, and against whom notice has been served by the EC, needs to be arrested," Congress senior leader Rashid Alvi said here.