960409

BJP ticket for cop who manned Babri security

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded D.B. Roy, the controversial police officer who was supervising the security of Babri mosque on December 6, 1992 - when the shrine was demolished - as the candidate for Sultanpur lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, says daily The Pioneer.

The paper in its issue of March 31, the party has also decided to leave former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar's constituency Ballia, as well as Salempur, the seat of Samata Party (SP) leader Harkewal Prasad, uncontested in bargain for BJP's alliance with SP in Bihar.

BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan on Saturday announced the second list of 106 candidates for Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh (10), Bihar (30), Delhi (7), Harayana (6), Karnataka (6), Kerala (3), Madhya Pradesh (8), Orissa (5), Punjab (3), Rajasthan (14), Tamil Nadu (4), Uttar Pradesh (8) and West Bengal (5).

The party sprang a surprise by fielding D.B. Roy, a Rajput police officer, from Sultanpur seat, an area dominated by Rajputs. He is facing criminal charges in connection with the demolition of the Babri mosque.

He was recently re-instated by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) after the Centre refused to accept his resignation from the Indian Police Service (IPS).

Apparently, Roy's candidature from Sultanpur is aimed at wooing Rajputs who dominate numerically in Sultanpur, Pratapgarh and Rae Bareli areas of UP.

In fact, caste considerations seem to have played a decisive role in selection of candidates for the second list in UP and Bihar.-AFP