Lucknow: Three more legislators, including the BJP legislature party leader in Uttar Pradesh assembly, were arrested today over the communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar district even as opposition parties blamed the ruling Samajwadi Party for the conflagration.
Sangeet Som, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Sardhana, surrendered in Salawa village of Meerut, while Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) lawmaker Noor Saleem Rana was also arrested hours later from Meerut.
BJP legislature party leader Hukum Singh was also arrested at Ghaziabad border Saturday evening.
Meerut police chief Deepak Kumar said security has been beefed up in the entire region following the arrests.
The arrests came after BJP lawmaker Suresh Rana was arrested in Lucknow Friday.
BJP president Rajnath Singh Saturday called off his visit to violence-hit Muzaffarnagar district, and said in Delhi that whenever the Samajwadi Party (SP) comes to power, “a series of communal riots begin in Uttar Pradesh”.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, who was in Lucknow, said the Muzaffarnagar riots were a “big blot” on Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his government, and charged them with not responding to them properly.
