UP: Former ministers, MLAs who left BJP facing ire of Yogi’s bulldozers

The leaders who left Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before Uttar Pradesh assembly elections are now facing the ire of Yogi Adityanath’s bulldozer as some of them have got notice of illegal construction or part of their property has been demolished by the administration claiming that these were constructed illegally.

On Thursday, the Shahajahanpur administration demolished a building owned by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Roshan Lal Verma calling it illegal. Verma had jumped ship to the Samajwadi Party (SP) before the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

Verma was the one who had carried Swami Prasad Maurya’s resignation letter from the Yogi cabinet to Governor Anandiben Patel. Outside Raj Bhawan he had claimed on January 11 that Yogi’s tyranny will end on March 10 – the day result of the assembly elections was announced.

Three months later, on April 19 to be precise, Verma praised Yogi but this could not save him from the ire of Yogi’s bulldozers. Tilhar SDM Himanshu Upadhyay said that as per the revenue records, construction of the building was carried out on government land.

Shahajahanpur District Magistrate Umesh Pratap Singh, said that the building has been constructed on 450 square feet of government land. Three bulldozers were used to demolish the illegal construction, he said, adding that another plot “grabbed” by the former MLA had been razed.

The same day former Uttar Pradesh minister Dr Dharam Singh Saini was issued notices for constructing shops on an encroached land. He has been given seven day’s time to submit his reply otherwise the shops would be demolished.

Saini, a four-time MLA from Nukur constituency of Saharanpur, was a minister in Yogi 1.0 government. When Swami Prasad Maurya resigned from Yogi cabinet, he along with Dara Singh Chauhan too resigned and joined Samajwadi Party. He contested 2022 election from Nukur as SP -Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance candidate but lost the election.

Saini claims he has all the required documents and the construction was carried out only after the map was passed by the Nagar panchayat. He said that a reply to the notice is being sent along with documents to the administration.

The said shops were constructed near Chlkana bus station in Saharanpur. Additional District Magistrate (enforcement), Saharanpur, Archana Dwivedi, said that notices were served following a complaint by one Pramod Kumar of Chilkana on April 7.

Meanwhile, local authorities in Banda district served a show-cause notice to former BJP MLA Brajesh Prajapati, who also had switched to the SP, for a multi-storey structure, which has allegedly been built without proper sanction.

Last week bulldozers demolished part of the petrol pump of Samajwadi Party MLA Shazil Islam Ansari in Bareilly for construction being carried out on illegal land. He has also been served notices for the construction of marriage halls and residential complexes. Incidentally, this MLA was earlier booked for objectionable comments against Yogi.

Samajwadi Party State President Naresh Uttam said it was an act of political vendetta. The Yogi Government is targeting those leaders who had left BJP before assembly elections.