BJP MP beats up MLA with shoes

LUCKNOW/GORAKHPUR: An angry argument between two BJP lawmakers over the name on the plaque for a local project escalated into a fist fight in Sant Kabir Nagar on Wednesday, all of it captured on a video recorded on a mobile phone.

The widely-circulated video, which has provoked taunts from Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, comes as a huge embarrassment to the ruling BJP that has summoned the two lawmakers to Lucknow. The meeting had been convened by the Sant Kabir Nagar district planning board to discuss some projects at the district headquarters.

In the video, BJP Lok Sabha MP Sharad Tripathi and state legislator Rakesh Singh Baghel are initially seen squabbling over the plaque at the meeting also attended by UP minister Ashutosh Tandon. Somewhere down the line, Tripathi, the Lok Sabha MP from Sant Kabir Nagar, suddenly reaches for his shoe, stands up and starts hitting Baghel on his head. Initially, many of those present appear to be too stunned to react but were able to get Tripathi to back off.

By then, he had already hit Baghel with his shoe seven times.

Baghel represents Menhdawal assembly seat, one of the five that constitute the Lok Sabha constituency in eastern UP. All five assembly seats went to the BJP in the 2017 assembly elections.

Baghel, who had recovered from the shock over the next few seconds, then attempts to give it back and lands a few slaps on the Lok Sabha MP.

In between, UP minister Ashutosh Tandon, who is also BJP in-charge of Sant Kabir Nagar, unsuccessfully tried to pacify the two leaders. But it was only after a police officer intervened that they succeeded to break up the fight.

As videos of the brawl reached social media within hours, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav took a sharp jab at the BJP, which he said, often describes itself as the most disciplined party. “This reflects the frustration within the BJP which is staring a defeat in the general elections,” he said.