BJP workers cane charged in Uttar Pradesh

Many BJP workers protesting here against power outages and failing law and order in Uttar Pradesh were injured in a cane charge by police Monday.

Workers of the party's youth wing gathered outside the Vidhan Sabha where the budget session is on. They tried to break barricades, following which police used water canons and cane charged them to disperse them.

Incensed members of the Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha raised slogans against Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav after which the police intensified the cane charge and also used tear-gas shells to disperse them.

BJP leaders accused police personnel of targetting them without any provocation and termed the police action as "unlawful and unwarranted".

The party also said at least 50 of its workers were injured.

However, BJP leaders said such protests would continue over the next two weeks.

"We are a responsible political party and have all rights to raise problems faced by the people. We are not going to be cowed down by such police action at the behest of the ruling Samajwadi Party," state spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak told IANS.

The BJP and Samajwadi Party fought a pitched battle at the same place last week, in which more than a dozen people were injured.

Senior BJP leaders led by the state unit chief Laxmikant Bajpayi staged a sit-in after which two officials were transferred and a probe was ordered.

High on the recent Lok Sabha victory, insiders say the BJP wants to maintain a momentum against the Akhilesh Yadav government.

Sources said the national leadership has approved its "proactive" stance on issues like law and order and power crisis and has asked the state unit to step up such protests.

The BJP won 71 out of the 80 seats in the state, while the Samajwadi Party managed just five, the Congress won two and the Bahujan Samaj Party drew a blank.