Ballia shooting: BJP warns MLA Surendra Singh for defending accused

The BJP national president, JP Nadda, has warned party MLA Surendra Singh from Uttar Pradesh for his comments defending the main accused in the Ballia shooting incident.

According to reports, the Uttar Pradesh BJP leadership has sought an explanation from Surendra Singh, who is Bairia constituency MLA in Ballia. Also, NDTV, quoting sources, said Nadda had warned the legislator.

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On Sunday (October 18), Surendra Singh was called to the state capital Lucknow where he was reprimanded by the Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh and state general secretary (organisation) Sunil Bansal.

Before heading to Lucknow, Surendra Singh said he would present a “true account” of the incident to the party.

“Yes, I have been called to Lucknow. The party’s state unit chief will ask about the incident that took place at Durjanpur village (in Ballia). I will present a true account of the incident. I will tell him about a series of incidents which led to the chaos during the meeting and then the unfortunate incident,” he was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

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On Thursday, Surendra Singh’s aide Dheerendra Pratap Singh allegedly shot dead a man named Jaiprakash Pal in the presence of police and officials in a meeting in a village in Ballia.

The accused was arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) on Sunday in Lucknow. Surendra Singh had defended Dheerendra by saying he fired in “self-defence”.

“I condemn the tragic incident but I also condemn the administration’s one-sided investigation. If Dheerendra Singh had not fired in self-defence, dozens from his family would have been killed. He had no other alternative except for ‘marne aur maarne’ (dying or killing),” Surendra Singh had said.