Mayawati under fire for engineer killing, SP calls UP bandh

NEW DELHI: The Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday came under all-round attack over the lynching of an engineer, allegedly by a ruling BSP MLA, as Samajwadi Party called a statewide bandh tomorrow and asked the Centre to consider using new anti-terror law against the Chief Minister.

Congress and SP accused the BSP leaders of indulging in "ruthless collection" of funds for Mayawati's birthdays while Lok Janshakti Party of Ram Vilas Paswan charged the state government was equally responsible for the incident.

PWD Executive Engineer M K Gupta was killed in Auraiya district of UP after he reportedly refused to pay money allegedly demanded by BSP MLA Shekhar Tiwari for Mayawati's birthday celebrations.

SP General Secretary Amar Singh asked the Centre to assess if the anti-terror law passed by Parliament could be applicable against Mayawati in the case to seek a report from Governor T V Rajeswar.

"I want to ask the Home Minister whether the provisions of the newly-passed anti-terror law could be used against Mayawati...so what if she is the Chief Minister? No one is above law," S ngh told reporters here.

He alleged the killing was an example of "sponsored terrorism and organised crime in the state under the stewardship of Mayawati".

"Mayawati observes her birthday (falling next month) as extortion day where party coordinators, MPs and MLAs are given a huge target for money collection and they have no shame in this whole process," Samajwadi Party general secretary Singh alleged.