Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh BJP MLA Akash Vijayvargiya, who is also son of party general secretary in-charge of West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya, was on Wednesday caught on camera beating a civic body officer with a cricket bat in full public glare in Indore city in the state.
Akash, a first-time MLA from Indore-3 constituency, was seen chasing the officer and thrashing him, appearing oblivious to vasual media covering the incident. He was later arrested on charges of assaulting and obstructing a public servant from discharging his duty.
The MLA was remanded to 14-day judicial custody after his bail petition was rejected by the local court.
The incident has not only caused acute embarrassment to the BJP, but also threatened to politically damage senior Vijayvargiya, who was emerging as an alternative to former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh following stupendous success of the party in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal under his stewardship.
Was angry, don’t know what I did: MLA
A team of Indore Municipal Corporation officers, who were on an anti-encroachment drive in a posh area were confronted by the BJP MLA and his associates.
The legislator argued with the officers over demolition of a building and threatened them to leave the area within five minutes. He chased them and beat one of the officers, Dhirendra Byas, with a bat.
The police rescued the victim from the mob. Akash was arrested and produced in a local court. The MLA tried to justify the incident, alleging that the officers misbehaved with women residents.
“In BJP, we have been taught ‘pehele avedan, phir nivedan aur phir danadan (first request, then plead and then beat up), ” he told reporters.
He said it was his responsibility as an MLA to resolve problems of people in his constituency. The alleged high handedness of the civic body officers had provoked him.
“I was angry then. I do not know what I did,” he added.
