Amid UP Assembly uproar, Amar Singh accuses BJP of practicing 'dual- standards'

Amid uproar in the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha during the voting for Rajya Sabha seats and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing Samajwadi Party (SP) legislators of "acting like goons", senior party leader Amar Singh on Saturday recalled the 2008 'Cash-for-votes scandal' and said the saffron party's 'dual- standards' would not work.

"I would like to ask the BJP, which had showed 'bundles of cash' in Parliament, that if the Congress or other parties do the same thing then they are bad and if they do so they are good. Agar Bharatiya Janata Party kare to raasleela aur Congress aur anya dal aisa hi kuch karein to unka character dheela," he told media here.

"This dual standard (of BJP) wouldn't work," he added.

Krishna Paswan, BJP legislator from Khaga assembly constituency earlier accused the SP MLAs of not letting her vote to in the House.

"The SP MLAs are acting like goons. Openly, they are involved in hooliganism. They are not letting us cast our votes. They held my hand to refrain me from voting," Paswan told ANI.

"When we went to the Central Secretariat, they told me that they would cast my vote, to which I opposed," she said adding, "Why should they (SP MLAs) cast my vote, when I can on my own."

"They even asked the employees to cover the box with their hands. I was stopped with all the vigour," she added.

Meanwhile, polls are underway in seven states today to elect 27 Rajya Sabha members.

These include 11 seats from Uttar Pradesh, four each from Karnataka and Rajasthan, three from Madhya Pradesh, two each from Haryana and Jharkhand and one from Uttarakhand.

Out of 57 Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant, voting took place for only 27 seats today as 30 candidates were declared elected unopposed at the end of withdrawal of nominations on June 3.

In Uttar Pradesh, 12 candidates are vying for 11 seats.