AAP members slammed for showing V-signs during protest

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) district unit in the state capital on Saturday came in for sharp criticism for posing with victory signs and smiling at an event related to protests over dengue deaths in Uttar Pradesh.

The team of AAP's Lucknow unit office bearers lodged an FIR against the municipal commissioner and city mayor Dinesh Sharma and then broke out into a cheerful celebration, posing for photographers flashing victory signs and smiling all through.

"With over 200 deaths in the city alone due to dengue and the menace still far from being contained, it is unfortunate that AAP office bearers have behaved in such a manner," a municipal official said.

The official also said that the party cadres were indulging in arm twisting with them rather than helping the officials in identifying places where this menace was spreading.

Sources said leaders in the state unit of the AAP were also miffed at the behaviour of its district unit and were contemplating action.

"The entire world now knows that the AAP stands for 'tamasha' and that's what we are seeing here as well," said a close aide of the city mayor while observing that the "immature behaviour of the leaders as seen on Saturday indicated how non-serious the party was to serious issues like dengue".

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders also said that while the AAP government in Delhi had been rapped by the courts left and right for dengue and chikungunya outbreak, its cadres were involved in theatrics in Lucknow.

--IANS

md/pgh/dg