ALLAHABAD, JULY 12
Uttar Pradesh Minister Nand Gopal Gupta “Nandi” was today injured in a bomb blast apparently targeting him just outside his residence here while two others were seriously wounded in the attack following which police detained five supporters of a rival Samajwadi Party leader.
The incident, which sent shock waves in the city, took place at around 11 am when 36-year-old Gupta, minister for institutional finance, stamp and judicial tax in the Mayawati government, was going to a temple situated about 60 metres from his residence.
As he moved 10 to 12 metres towards the temple, the explosion took place in a moped in which the bomb was apparently planted, Additional Director General (ADG) Law and Order Brijlal said.
Local journalist Vijay Pratap Singh and the minister’s personal security officer Sanjay, who accompanied Gupta, were seriously injured in the blast, Deputy Inspector General of Police Braj Bhushan said.
They were rushed to the private Jeevan Jyoti hospital, where Gupta was stated to be out of danger. But the condition of the other two, who were admitted in the intensive care unit, was stated to be serious, the DIG said.
The explosion was prima facie caused by a device planted inside the two-wheeler which was parked alongside the minister’s vehicle, Inspector General of Police Subesh Kumar Singh said.
Replying to questions, Brijlal said in Lucknow that no firing took place during the attack and that they were trying to ascertain the motive behind it. “We cannot say at the moment that the minister was the target”, he said.
Within a few hours of the attack, five persons were picked up from the house of Dilip Mishra, a local Samajwadi Party leader with whom Gupta had a long-standing land dispute, police said.
Although senior officials were tightlipped on the detentions, sources in the district police said on condition of anonymity that the five youths have been picked up from Naini in the district’s trans-Yamuna region for interrogation.
The powerful explosion damaged at least half-a-dozen vehicles and walls of buildings of the narrow street which leads to the residence of Gupta, a local trader who had made
his electoral debut in the last assembly elections in 2007 defeating heavyweights like Bharatiya Janata Party’s Keshri Nath Tripathi and Rita Bahuguna Joshi from the Congress.
As the news of the explosion spread, angry supporters of the ruling BSP swarmed Gupta’s house and the hospital and raised slogans against “inefficiency” of the police. Both the
buildings were cordoned off and heavy deployment of police and paramilitary personnel was put in place.
As soon as the news of attack reached Lucknow, Mayawati called a meeting of senior officials and Principal Secretary Kunwar Fateh Bahadur along with DGP Karmveer Singh flew to Allahabad on her direction.
A number of political leaders, including Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) member of parliament from Phulpur, Kapil Muni Karwaria, visited the hospital. The agitated crowd was pacified by family members of the minister who said that Gupta was out of danger.
Gupta’s victory from Allahabad (South) constituency had helped him get a ministerial berth in the Uttar Pradesh cabinet against the backdrop of Mayawati’s strategy to widen its social base by wooing upper caste groups like Brahmins and Vaishyas, to which he belongs.
While condemning the bomb attack, opposition parties alleged that it indicated the State government’s failure to tackle the law and order situation.
“We had been highlighting the bad state of affairs in the state at every level and the attack on a cabinet minister today goes on to prove the magnitude of the problem” Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said while terming the attack as “most unfortunate”.
“Today’s incident has proved that no one is safe in Uttar Pradesh,”BJP spokesman and vice president of the state unit Hriday Narain Dixit said.
“After this incident, people are doubting as to how the government which cannot provide proper security to its ministers can be entrusted with the responsibility of doing
the same for the common people,” the BJP leader said.
Speaking in the same vein, Congress leader Digvijay Singh said that “even the ministers are not safe under the BSP government what to say of the common people.”
Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee President Rita Bahuguna Joshi while condemning
the incident said her party had been repeatedly asking the government to improve governance but to no avail.
“There had been several cases when people have been attacked in which accused having allegiance to the ruling party had been involved but instead of taking action against them they had been promoted,” Joshi, whose house in Lucknow had been set ablaze a year ago following certain comments made by her against the chief minister, said.
“There is complete disorder in Uttar Pradesh and the State government has not taken note of it,” Joshi said, adding that if nothing was done now it would prove that the State government does not know how to provide good governance.
