The MLA said lawmakers like him do not have any stature and too many statements to the media may lead to a ‘sedition’ case against him.
Hitting out at his own party, BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur district, said lawmakers like him do not have any stature and too many statements to the media may lead to a ‘sedition’ case against him.
When asked about efforts to operationalise a government trauma centre in the Sitapur town, whose building has been ready for a few years now, MLA Rakesh Rathore said: “I have taken many steps, but ‘vidhayakon ki haisiyat kya hai (what stature do MLAs have?)’. If I speak too much, then sedition charges may be invoked against me.”
Mr Rathore, when questioned whether he was suggesting that as an MLA he could not make a representation to his own government, replied saying: “Do you think MLAs can speak their mind? You know I have raised questions in the past.”
On Saturday , @BJP4UP MLA from Sitapur ,Rakesh Rathore,was questioned by reporters over a trauma centre in the district that awaits an ‘inauguration’ for years .his response – ‘have made all efforts ,but if i speak too much sedition charges may be invoked against me’. Do hear … pic.twitter.com/h08FE47bF2
— Alok Pandey (@alok_pandey) May 17, 2021
Mr Rathore, who has been elected to the assembly for the first time, joined the BJP before the 2017 Assembly elections in the state. He had fought election in the past as an Independent and was also associated with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party.
Mr Rathore made to the headlines last year as well after he was asked by the state BJP leadership to explain after a purported audio clip of him criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi went viral on social media.
Mr Rathore, in a phone conversation with another BJP leader, had termed the Prime Minister’s call asking people to clap and clang bells and plates at the beginning of the Covid pandemic as completely wrong.
“Will you remove coronavirus by clapping? You are breaking record of foolishness. Will corona go by blowing a conch? People like you are foolish…They will take your employment,” the MLA had purportedly said.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
