Why are BSP, Congress silent on Mathura clashes? BJP

NEW DELHI: Attacking BSP and Congress on their "silence" over the Mathura clashes, BJP today alleged that they were trying to save the Samajwadi Party government in UP as because of their understanding to help each other in the Rajya Sabha polls.

"It appears that all these parties are trying to save the Samajwadi Party government... Probably a reason is that in the Rajya Sabha polls, SP is supporting Congress and BSP too is supporting it in some states," BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, referring to understanding among SP, BSP, Congress and Ajit Singh-led RLD.

"Why are you silent? Is it because the religion and caste of the killed is not of help in fulfilling your political ambitions," he said at a press conference here.

Trivedi said the silence of these parties is as much to blame as the UP government. He also attacked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the issue, saying he otherwise speaks on all national and international issues but has maintained a surprising silence on the violence.

Citing a sting shown by a private channel to hit out at the Akhilesh Yadav government, he said it was left with no face-saver now.

"It is clear now that what happened in Mathura was not due to negligence but part of a conspiracy," he said.

BJP alleged that sting has "exposed" the ruling party's collusion with Mathura's Jawahar Bagh encroachers.

The party also asked the state government to immediately recommend a CBI inquiry so that truth could come out.

"The sting has exposed the Chief Minister and his government. He had blamed officers for the violence. Now it has emerged that over 80 intelligence inputs were sent to the government but it did not act because it was in collusion with land mafia," BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma claimed.

The sting operation purportedly showed intelligence officials saying they had informed the state government about threats posed by the well-armed encroachers, who were also part of a sect.

Dwivedi rejected the state government's decision to appoint a one-man commission as an attempt for "cover up".

He said a senior state minister, who is also a member of the ruling family, was part of the conspiracy behind this "institutional land grabbing" by SP. BJP has earlier blamed Shivpal Yadav, Akhilesh's uncle and a Cabinet minister, for the Mathura episode.