BJP MP charges babus with conspiracy to ‘murder’ him

BETTIAH: A day after “escaping alive” from a mob attack at a polling booth in Narkatia assembly segment, Paschim Champaran’s incumbent BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal played the communal card on Monday even as he reiterated his allegation of partisan behaviour by East Champaran district officials.
“Had my bodyguards not fired over 15 rounds in the air, I would have been lynched like our former collector Krishhnaiyaji (The Bihar cadre IAS officer was killed by a mob at Muzaffarpur in 1994),” the MP said. He alleged that many “Hindu voters” were assaulted and prevented from voting at booth numbers 162-63 at Shekhauna village.
“I have video clips and stills to substantiate,” Jaisawal said. His statement perhaps provides a peek into the BJP’s final onslaught plan for the seventh and the last phase in which 59 seats are up for grabs — 13 each in Bihar and UP’s Poorvanchal alone. “I have been getting calls from UP over the incident,” the BJP candidate said.
The MP is likely to leave for Delhi to present “the proof” before the Election Commission against the East Champaran DM and SP, who are on his radar since Sunday’s violence in which Jaiswal was under siege till the evening.
Jaiswal alleged that the Motihari SP and DM went incommunicado after complaints were lodged over phone regarding the alleged assault and attempts to prevent some voters from voting. “The mob which vandalized my vehicles even damaged the local SDPO’s vehicle and in the evening the SP delayed accepting my FIR till he had ensured that a fabricated FIR had been registered against me first,” he alleged.
“No one can say that I have not done work for the minority community in my two tenures. I’ve evenly represented all, but neither shall I tolerate this criminal assault on Hindus,” Jaiswal said while denying that he was communalising the situation. “After being rescued, I brought the seriously injured voters to Motihari. They are undergoing treatment at the sadar hospital. The SP and DM reached the hospital but did not see it fit to inquire of my ordeal,” he claimed before leaving again for Motihari on Monday to check on those hospitalised.
“The East Champaran officials were part of the conspiracy to kill me,” he alleged, saying central forces were purposely not deployed...even after the attack. “I was held hostage, I called the SSB camp just 3km away, but they pleaded helplessness as they needed SP-DM’s requisition,” Jaiswal said.
However, the district officials refused to react. “We shall not respond to media queries,” said East Champaran SP Upendra K Sharma. “Everything is on paper...What happened; who saved him...it is all on record, in public domain. We shall only respond in appropriate forum,” the SP added.