Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Monday said the arrest of two persons in Lucknow by the Uttar Pradesh Police for allegedly plotting terror attacks months ahead of the State Assembly election has created suspicion in the public’s mind.
If the claims of the police are true, then this is a serious matter and necessary action should be taken, she said.
“No politics should be done in its guise, as is the apprehension,” Ms. Mayawati said on Twitter.
If there was truth to the claims of the U.P. Police, then why was it unaware of the conspiracy till now, she asked.
“This a question people are asking. The government should not do anything which could increase the restlessness among the people,” she said.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the U.P. Police on Sunday arrested two persons on the suspicion that they were allegedly planning to carry out terror attacks in parts of eastern U.P. and Lucknow ahead of Independence Day.
The U.P. ATS, which made the arrests from two locations in Lucknow, claimed to recover explosives from the two suspects.
The police said the two men were working for a local module of Al-Qaeda, the terror outfit.
Meanwhile, the BJP attacked Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav for his comments that he did not trust the State police.
Swatantra Dev Singh, BJP U.P. president, tweeted a short clip of Mr. Yadav’s statement during a press conference on Sunday while the police operation was on.
“For which country are you batting, everyone has this question in their minds today,” Mr. Singh said.
When asked by a pressperson about what he thought about the operation, Mr. Yadav said, “I cannot trust the Uttar Pradesh Police and especially the BJP government.”