Ballia MLA shouldn’t interfere in shooting probe, JP Nadda tells UP BJP

LUCKNOW: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief JP Nadda on Monday reportedly expressed his displeasure over BJP’s Bairia (Ballia) MLA Surendra Singh’s remarks in defence of the Ballia shooting accused Dhirendra Singh.
Dhirendra was arrested by UP STF in Lucknow on Sunday.
Sources said Nadda spoke to UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh over phone and asked him to ensure that Surendra Singh does not interfere with the investigation into the case.Nadda also expressed his displeasure over remarks by some UP BJP legislators which embarrass the party and provide an opportunity to the opposition to attack the party.
A senior BJP functionary told TOI that the party may issue a show cause notice to Surendra Singh. “He (Surendra Singh) was summoned to the UP BJP headquarters yesterday (Sunday) and issued a warning. He met state party chief Swatantra Dev Singh and general secretary (organisation) Sunil Bansal who has asked the legislators to refrain from making statements which dent the party’s image,” a senior BJP leader said. “He (Surendra Singh) agreed and promised to abide by the party directives on exercising restraint while speaking in public domain,” the BJP leader said. “What else can be done at this point of time? The party can only issue notices and summon the party MLAs who speak out arbitrarily,” he said.
Surendra Singh is not the lone MLA to have embarrassed the party with his remarks. Earlier, party’s Sultanpur MLA Devmani Dwivedi had sought to post a question in the UP assembly on the number of Brahmins killed in encounters and steps taken for the security of the community.
BJP MLA from Sitapur, Rakesh Rathore, had hit the headlines during the lockdown when an audio clip went viral in which he was heard ridiculing the PM Narendra Modi’s appeal to the public to clap ‘thalis’ to honour corona warriors. The party served him a show-cause notice to which Rathore reportedly did not reply.
Another legislator who was served with a show-cause notice by the party was Shyam Prakash, MLA from Hardoi. In a Facebook post, Prakash had alleged that he had never seen so much corruption in his political career as in the BJP regime. He had also alleged misappropriation of MLA funds. BJP MP Jai Prakash echoed similar sentiments recently when he questioned the purchase of ventilators in his constituency.