NEW DELHI: The central leadership of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday stepped in and cracked the whip against MLA Surendra Singh over his statements regarding the firing incident in Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh.
BJP National President JP Nadda has asked party's Uttar Pradesh chief Swatantra Dev Singh to convey it to the MLA to stay away from the probe, sources said.
This comes a day after the MLA met Swatantra Dev Singh in Lucknow after being summoned over his statements in connection with the Ballia incident in which a man had died after bullets were fired during a meeting for allotment of shops under government quota, in Durjanpur village.
"BJP National President JP Nadda spoke with UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh, expressing his displeasure over statements of MLA Surendra Singh regarding Ballia incident. He asked the party's UP chief to convey it to MLA Surendra Singh to stay away from the probe," BJP sources told ANI.
On October 16, a day after a local BJP leader Dhirendra Pratap Singh in Ballia district allegedly shot dead the man, BJP MLA Surendra Singh condemned the "one-sided" investigation of the administration.
"The incident is upsetting. It should not have taken place but I condemn the one-sided investigation of the administration. Nobody is looking at the pain of six women who have been injured in the incident. Dhirendra Singh fired in self-defence," Surendra had said.
"How can I deny that he is my close associate? Not only mine, but he is also a close associate of BJP as his family votes for us and he worked for us in polls. Everyone who votes for us is a close associate. But I decry the incident and administration's one-sided probe," he had added.
The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) arrested the main accused Dhirendra Pratap from Lucknow in connection with the Ballia firing case.