Beni accuses Cong MP Punia of 'patronising SP goons'

Triggering a row, Union minister Beni Prasad Verma has accused his party colleague and local MP P L Punia of "siding with anti-social elements" of Samajwadi Party.
After inaugurating 'kisan mela' last night, Beni alleged that at a time when Lok Sabha elections are near, the local MP instead of helping Congressmen was "assisting SP people in wrong things".
Punia is also the chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes.
The Union steel minister claimed that such activities would not only tarnish Congress' image but could also cause a damage.
Beni alleged that some 'SP goons' were grabbing land in a village of Punia's constituency and the local MP was "patronising them."

"Musclemen are grabbing land in Aulabad village in Sirauli Gauspur area of the district and the Congress MP was patronising them," Beni claimed.

Meanwhile, when contacted regarding Beni's accusation, Punia described it as "baseless and far from the truth". He said he was "neither aware of any land dispute nor he has interfered in any such case".
Accusing SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav of being a "patroniser of goons", the minister said that he would write a letter to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav regarding increasing hooliganism and cases of land grabbing in the state.
Earlier, while addressing the 'kisan mela' at Mohanlal Institute, Beni alleged that the UP government has failed to give farmers the price of their produce.