Liquor served by BJP leader Naresh Aggarwal at rally? Devout purify shrine
Rohan Dua | TNN | Updated: Jan 9, 2019, 14:50 ISTSamajwadi Party renegade Naresh Aggarwal.
LUCKNOW: Around 1,500 devotees cleaned the Shravan Devi Temple in Hardoi on Tuesday with Ganga jal for its purification after Samajwadi Party renegade Naresh Aggarwal, who recently joined BJP, allegedly distributed liquor in lunch boxes at an event in the revered shrine.
Hardoi BJP MP Anshul Varma, who is from Pasi community, accused Aggarwal of tempting the people of his caste with alcohol.
The Aggarwal family hit back at Varma, saying the controversy was a contrived attempt by him to hide his absence from the constituency and drum up support for his candidature again. The family agreed that it had indeed served lunch boxes but claimed it had no idea how liquor bottles surfaced in the box.
“My father held a rally. We have joined BJP only recently. We can’t contest from this seat as it’s a reserved constituency nor are we eyeing any Lok Sabha berth. May be Varma is trying to manufacture a controversy as he did not do any constructive work here,” said Naresh’s son Nitin.
On Tuesday, the devotees collected Ganga jal from several houses and wiped the floors of temple complex and its neighbourhood with it. The cleaning and purification process went on till late evening while devotees continued religious chants. The devotees also raised slogans against Aggarwal.
Varma, who has written to UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, maintained that he has video evidence to support his allegations.
Aggarwal had recently held a massive public event near his residence in Hardoi on ‘One Nation One Poll’ that was coincidentally attended by Varma apart from UP affairs in charge Sunil Bansal and Misrikh MP Anju Bala.
Hardoi BJP MP Anshul Varma, who is from Pasi community, accused Aggarwal of tempting the people of his caste with alcohol.
The Aggarwal family hit back at Varma, saying the controversy was a contrived attempt by him to hide his absence from the constituency and drum up support for his candidature again. The family agreed that it had indeed served lunch boxes but claimed it had no idea how liquor bottles surfaced in the box.
“My father held a rally. We have joined BJP only recently. We can’t contest from this seat as it’s a reserved constituency nor are we eyeing any Lok Sabha berth. May be Varma is trying to manufacture a controversy as he did not do any constructive work here,” said Naresh’s son Nitin.
On Tuesday, the devotees collected Ganga jal from several houses and wiped the floors of temple complex and its neighbourhood with it. The cleaning and purification process went on till late evening while devotees continued religious chants. The devotees also raised slogans against Aggarwal.
Varma, who has written to UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, maintained that he has video evidence to support his allegations.
Aggarwal had recently held a massive public event near his residence in Hardoi on ‘One Nation One Poll’ that was coincidentally attended by Varma apart from UP affairs in charge Sunil Bansal and Misrikh MP Anju Bala.
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