AAP says BJP targeting its workers in UP

Lucknow: The Aam Adam Party (AAP) on Tuesday alleged that the Lucknow municipal corporation was victimising its cadres at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state. AAP district spokesman Mahendra Pratap Singh said as they expose various misdeeds of the Uttar Pradesh government and the municipal corporation in the state capital, government agencies have been let loose on them. He said the party’s ward in-charge of Vikasnagar, Mohd Imtiaz, has time and again raised the problems faced by the people. He runs a hair cutting saloon and his shop was razed by the Lucknow Nagar Nigam (LNN) on Tuesday without any prior notice or prima facie illegality being proved. The AAP leader also said that to protect his customers from rains, he had put up a temporary tin shed outside his salon. Claiming it to be illegal, not only did municipal authorities bring the shed down they also razed the pucca salon and damaged furniture, AAP leaders alleged. “We asked for a written order for demolition of the shop but the officials who had come with the demolition team failed to present any written document,” he said adding that they forcibly entered the shop and razed it. District convener Gaurav Maheshwari said that governments come and go but the municipal authority should work according to the law. AAP leaders also alleged that their workers are being harassed all over the city on one pretext or another. LNN officials refused to comment on the charges and said that “there were complaints against the shop following which action was taken.” IANS