LUCKNOW: Bhartiya Janata Party chief L.K.Advani and other seven arrested leaders of the BJP
VHP were shifted to the Mata Tila Guest House which has been turned into temporary jail in Lalit pur district on Dec.8 even as the BJP sponsored bandh call evoked mixed response.
The leaders were remanded to 13 days’ judicial custody here on Tuesday evening by Vijay Verma, special CBI judge, trying the case of the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya on December 6 last year, after former chief Minister Kalyan Singh and other leaders refused the bail offered by the Magistrate on their personal bonds. Besides Advani and Kalyan, the others arrested were former BJP chief M.M Joshi, Lok Sabha members Vinay Katiyar (BJP) and Satish Pradhan (Chief Beant), Acharya Giriraj Kishore and Jai Bhan Singh.
The leader was airlifted from Lucknow at 10 a.m. on Wednesday to Jhansi in a state plane amidst light security. The state Home Secretary Surendra Mohan said the “arrested leaders have been flown out of Lucknow,” but declined to disclose the destination.
Confusion prevailed about the lodging of the Leaders, since their arrest on Tuesday. The authorities had initially planned to shift them to the forest lodge turned temporary jail in Nawabganj bird sanctuary, 40 km from here. However, the BJP’s plans of continued protests changed the plan, sources said, The leaders were kept at the Model jail in Lucknow, The next morning, there were speculations that they might be shifted to Chunar Fort in Mirzapur district, However, they were flown to Mata Tila, where Advani and other leaders had been kept in a month-long custody after the demolition in Ayodhya last year. BJP state unit spokesman Lalji Tandon said the union government” ‘which has initiated the case to harass the leaders, were doing it at every stage, including the decisions on their lodging venue. All the decisions are imposed from Delhi, there is no government in Lucknow.” he said. BANDH PARTIAL: Meanwhile.
The bandh called by the BJP evoked mixed response. In Lucknow, the impact was minimal, with shops open in many localities, educational institutions and offices functioning normally, Tandon, however, Claimed that shops in the: trading centers were closed. Addressing a Press conference, BJP state president Kalray Mishra said the bandh evoked response in most places, He said three legislators Amarmath Yadav and S.D.R.Choudhary of Varanasi and Manvendra Singh of Jhansi and about 2000 party men were arrested in various places during the protests on Wednesday.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 17, 1993
