Newly-appointed president of Bharatiya Janata Party’s Uttar Pradesh unit, Swatantra Dev Singh, lashed out at Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for staging a drama with her protest over the killing of 10 people in Sonbhadra.

“Pursuing the vulture politics is the old habit of the Congress’,” he said, adding that the grand old party must abstain from it.

“The drama should stop. That is what I will say to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. All the accused have been arrested and the officials responsible of the incident have been suspended. The families of the victims have met Priyanka. Congress has a history of playing politics over dead bodies,” the BJP state president said here on Saturday while addressing his maiden press conference after taking over the office on Friday.  

The BJP state chief condemned the killing of 10 villagers in Sonbhadra district and expressed condolence to the bereaved villagers.

“Pursuing narrow political agenda and politics over dead bodies is the old character of the Congress. The district administration of Sonbhadra arranged the meeting of the families of the victims with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as demanded by her yet she continued with the dharna,” the BJP state president said.

Swatantra Dev Singh said the “Congress appears to be adamant on further vitiating the atmosphere in the troubled area’’.  

He added, “The UP government wants to ensure justice to the families of the victims but justice was nowhere on the agenda of the Congress.”

“The Congress general secretary is levelling baseless allegations against the BJP government in UP to hide the sins of her ancestors since 1955. She is shedding crocodile tears only to distract the attention of the common man from the sins of the previous Congress governments since 1955,” the BJP state chief said.

Defending the Yogi Adityanath government, the former Transport Minister said, “The state government took prompt action after the incident. Not only were the officers responsible for lapses suspended, all the accused were also arrested.”

He said the Chief Minister had directed the district magistrate to ensure treatment of the injured besides announcing compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the survivors of each deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured.