UP Election 2022: Bidhuna MLA denies daughter's ‘abduction’ claim, ‘with Swami Prasad Maurya, will join SP'
A video of Shakya's daughter Riya Shakya went viral on social media on Tuesday. In the video, she claimed that her father was 'forcibly' taken to Lucknow by her uncle for ‘personal politics’.
FollowRefuting the claims about his kidnapping, BJP MLA from Bidhuna Vinay Shakya, on Wednesday said that he is with Swami Prasad Maurya, the former state Cabinet minister who quit the BJP on Tuesday and will join the Samajwadi Party (SP).
A video of Shakya's daughter Riya Shakya went viral on social media on Tuesday. In the video, she claimed that her father was 'forcibly' taken to Lucknow by her uncle for ‘personal politics’.
Amid reports that Shakya too is to join the Samajwadi Party like three other party MLAs after the resignation by UP minister Swami Prasad Maurya, Riya on Tuesday alleged that her father has become untraceable after her uncle Devesh Shakya and grandmother took him to Lucknow.
“You all know that my father was paralyzed a few years back, after which he is unable to walk. My uncle Devesh Shakya took advantage of his illness and started doing personal politics in his name. Today, he crossed all the limits and took my father forcibly from our house and went to Lucknow to join SP,” Riya Shakya said in the video. She also alleged that the Samajwadi Party was ‘trying to kidnap her too’.
Also read: UP Election 2022: Curious case of BJP MLA's 'kidnapping' in Auraiya
However, Auraiya SP Abhishek Verma, clarified that the allegations leveled by Riya Shakya about her father being forcibly taken to Lucknow to join Samajwadi Party were ‘baseless’. “I talked with MLA Vinay Shakya on a video call and found that he is currently staying at his Etawah’s residence. Police security personnel are also present at the location. The viral video of Riya Shakya, daughter of MLA Vinay Shakya is baseless,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The BJP suffered a major setback on Tuesday as OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya resigned from the state cabinet and three other MLAs announced they are quitting the party. Maurya is widely expected to join the Samajwadi Party but has not made a formal declaration. The SP, however, welcomed him to their fold, even sharing a picture that showed him with party president Akhilesh Yadav.
Maurya, who joined the BJP from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), resigned from his post, accusing chief minister Yogi Adityanath's government of neglecting Dalits, backward classes, farmers, unemployed youth and small-medium sized traders.
