Samajwadi Party urges governor to protect its legislator

LUCKNOW - A delegation of the Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders Monday met Uttar Pradesh Governor B.L. Joshi and urged him to take steps to protect party legislator Vinay Mishra, who, they alleged, could be killed at the behest of the Mayawati government, party officials said.

The delegation - including Leader of Opposition in the assembly Shivpal Yadav, party state unit president Akhilesh Yadav, and other senior SP leaders - alleged that owing to political rivalry, two ministers in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government are after Mishra’s life since the 2007 assembly elections.

They alleged that at the behest of the Mayawati government, the police have falsely implicated Mishra in the attack on minister Nand Gopal ‘Nandi’ and announced a reward of Rs.2.5 lakh for his capture.

“In the memorandum handed over to the governor, SP leaders stated that owing to fear of getting killed, Mishra has not even visited his home for the last several years,” party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told reporters here.

“We pleaded to the governor to protect us from the harassment of the state government, which is hell bent on falsely implicating several of our leaders for political rivalry,” added Chaudhary.