Akhilesh Yadav questions handling of Gorakhnath temple attack case

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav has questioned the handling of the Ahmed Murtaza Abbasi case, related to the attack on Gorakhnath temple.

In a statement, he urged the state government to "consider that the father of the accused has said that his son was of unsound mental health and 'unstable' state of mind".

"Murtaza's father has said his son has a psychiatric problem. I think that aspect has to be looked into. The BJP is the party which drags the matter unnecessarily," Akhilesh said.

The statement, has expectedly, drawn a sharp reaction from the BJP which said that the SP chief was more concerned about vote bank appeasement than about national security.

Meanwhile, Akhilesh also accused the BJP of creating disturbances in the panchayat and legislative council elections and called the saffron party a 'serial killer of democracy'.

"BJP is a serial killer of democracy. How votes are looted in a democracy -- BJP has become an expert party. Many candidates in Kannauj could not file nominations. In Etah, the police chief and the district magistrate together did not let the nomination be filed. The same thing happened in Farrukhabad," he said.

On rising prices of petrol and diesel, the SP president said that what he had said, is now happening. "I had said that the price of petrol and diesel will increase, the same thing happened after the elections. Along with the impact of inflation, unemployment is also hitting people who are committing suicide," Akhilesh said.

Akhilesh further said that bulldozers are being run at those who dare to stand up to the government.