Opposition parties flay UP government after SC order on Muzaffarnagar riot

LUCKNOW: With the SC holding UP government prima facie responsible for negligence in preventing communal violence in Muzaffarnagar, opposition parties today flayed the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP regime and demanded its immediate dismissal.

"The state government has lost the moral right to continue in office after today's orders by the apex court," the BJP and the Congress here said in their press statements.

"The state unit president of the BJP Laxmikant Bajpai will meet Governor BL Joshi this evening to request him to recommed dismissal of the SP government following the Supreme Court orders," spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.

Chairman of Congress' communication department, Satyadev Tripathi said, "if the state governmet does not resign on moral grounds, it needs to immediately dismiss the culprit minister after whose phone call the riots in Muzaffarnagar took place or else the people would feel that court's orders are not being honoured."

"The SC verdict also proved that both the BJP and the SP together want to instigate riots and gain mileage on it in elections on communal grounds," Tripathi said.

Earlier today, a bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam said "we prima facie hold the state government responsible for negligence in preventing such incidents."

It also directed the state authorities to bring to book all accused persons irrespective of their political affiliations.