Pressure on BJP to take back Daya Shankar

The Bhartiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh is now facing a piquant situation with the Daya Shankar controversy taking on a casteist colour and its cadres demanding that the expelled leader should be taken back into the party fold.

With the BSP giving a casteist colour to the controversy and turning it into a Thakur versus dalit battle of sorts, the various Kshatriya organisations have come out in support of the expelled BJP leader Daya Shankar Singh. Some have even asked Thakur leaders in the BSP to return their tickets for the Assembly elections.

The BJP, which initially went on the defensive when Daya Shankar Singh’s video clip, in which he made derogatory remarks against Ms Mayawati, went viral on the social media, is also having second thought about its actions.

“There is no denying the fact that we acted in haste. Daya Shankar was removed from his posts in the party organisation and then he apologised too. The matter should have ended and there was no need for his expulsion,” admitted a party functionary.

However, the situation changed dramatically when the BSP activists, during a demonstration on Thursday in Lucknow, hurled expletives at the wife, sister and minor daughter of the expelled BJP leader.

From a villain, Daya Shankar Singh turned into a hero of sorts as his wife Swati Singh came out and told the media that her minor daughter was being traumatised and had fallen ill.