Mayawati questions inaction against Dayashankar, accuses BJP of shielding him

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government of trying to protect expelled leader Dayashankar Singh following reports suggesting that the latter recently visited the Baba Baidyanath temple in Jharkhand's Deogarh city.

Mayawati alleged that the BJP has sent Dayashankar to Jharkhand to protect him and ensure that he is not arrested.

"This makes it clear that Dayashankar Singh made the derogatory remark with the consent of his party. If the BJP says it does not have any role in this then why doesn't it produce Dayashankar Singh before the police and get him arrested?" Mayawati told the media here.

She alleged that the Samajwadi Party and BJP in Uttar Pradesh are presently indulging in drama to hide their failures.

"The Samajwadi Party and the BJP are together in Uttar Pradesh. They have failed in their policies. These two parties are doing drama to hide their failures," she added.

Singh, who was last seen at the temple in Deoghar on July 24, has been absconding ever since he was booked for derogatory remarks against the BSP chief.

The pictures of Singh visiting the Baidyanath Temple surfaced on social media earlier today.

The expelled BJP leader yesterday moved the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court seeking a stay on his possible arrest and challenging the FIR lodged against him by the BSP leaders for using "derogatory" language against Mayawati.

The Allahabad High Court has accepted the plea and set the date of hearing on August 28.

An FIR was lodged against the expelled BJP leader at Lucknow's Hazratganj Police Station under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act earlier on July 20 for passing "derogatory" comments against Mayawati.

The complaint lodged by BSP national secretary Mewalal Gautam alleged that Singh's remarks had hurt the feelings of his party workers and the Dalit community across India.