Shah slams Mayawati for BSP posters with Mukhtar's photos

BJP president Amit Shah on Monday hit out at BSP chief Mayawati on her promise to end 'goonda raj' in Uttar Pradesh by pointing out at her party's posters with photos of Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal.

His remarks came hours after the Delhi High Court rejected custody parole to Mukhtar, the sitting MLA from Mau, to canvass for himself in the ongoing Assembly polls.

"Mayawati says she will end goonda raj. But BSP candidates' posters prominently bear the photographs of Mukhtar Ansari and Afzal Ansari," Shah said here.

Ansari, who recently joined the Bahujan Samaj Party to contest from Mau Assembly seat, was given custody parole by a trial court on February 16 till March 4, enabling him to campaign in the election.

The order was stayed the next day by the High Court after the Election Commission of India (ECI) moved a plea seeking cancellation of his parole on the ground that he may influence witnesses in the 2005 murder case of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai in which he is facing trial in a Delhi court.

Addressing an election meeting here, Shah claimed, "BJP tsunami will knock off its political opponents and time has come when Poorvanchal (eastern UP) is on the threshold of good days."

"Keep your future in mind and vote for the BJP," he appealed to the electorates.

Seeking a performance report from the Congress for 60 years of its rule in the country, Shah claimed once the BJP comes to power in Uttar Pradesh, development would reach every nook and corner and it would become the number one state in the country.