The two BJP lawmakers who had exchanged blows met the Uttar Pradesh party president on Thursday to explain their conduct even as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath warned of “strict action” over the fracas.
Lucknow:
But no immediate action has been announced against Sant Kabir Nagar MP Sharad Tripathi and Mehdawal MLA Rakesh Baghel, who fought at an official meeting.
A party leader said BJP state unit president Mahendra Nath Pandey told them sternly that they should have refrained from the behaviour they displayed at the district planning committee meeting in Sant Kabir Nagar on Wednesday evening.
The party leader said Pandey met the two separately for their versions and has also sought a report from state minister minister Ashutosh Tandon, who too was present at the meeting in Sant Kabir Nagar The next course of action will be decided after getting the report, he said.
Earlier, at an event here, Adityanath said the BJP is a disciplined party.
“Indiscipline will not be tolerated. In this particular case, strict action will be taken against the guilty," the chief minister said Thursday.
Pandey had summoned the two lawmakers to Lucknow after the fracas that was caught on tape, leaving the ruling party red-faced.
The two leaders had got into an argument at the meeting over taking credit for a newly laid road.
The opposition has mocked the Bharatiya Janata Party over the fight, with the Congress calling it the Bharatiya Joot (shoe) Party.
At Wednesday's meeting, after a brief exchange of words, Tripathi had got up from his seat and begun thrashing Baghel with his shoe.
The MLA reacted, landing a few blows on Tripathi.
Tripathi was apparently angry that his name was missing from the plaque marking the inauguration of the road in the district's Mehdawal area.