MP BJP leaders meet; no decision on Akash Vijayvargiya yet

With the incident of BJP MLA Akash Vijayvargiya assaulting a government official causing the party considerable embarrassment, Madhya Pradesh BJP leaders went into a huddle here Thursday. State BJP chief and Jabalpur MP Rakesh Singh, who arrived here to attend a meeting of state unit leaders in the middle of a Parliament session, told reporters that no decision was taken about Vijayvargiya.

The party maintained that the meeting was about its membership drive. Akash Vijayvargiya, Indore-3 constituency's MLA and BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya's son, was arrested on January 26 when he was caught on camera assaulting an official of the Indore civic body with a cricket bat while opposing demolition of a house. He got bail Sunday.

Rakesh Singh, who is considered to be close to BJP president Amit Shah, has been holding talks with other state BJP leaders over the issue, party sources said. He has already spoken to BJP vice president and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who does not enjoy a good equation with Kailash Vijayvargiya, sources said.

Singh also spoke to Kailash Vijayvargiya over phone, they added. When quizzed by reporters after he met state unit leaders at the BJP office here, Singh said, "No decision has been taken yet (about Akash Vijayvargiya). When we take the decision, we will inform you." At the BJP parliamentary party's meeting Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, in apparent reference to the incident involving Akash Vijayvargiya, that such "arrogance and misbehaviour" cannot be tolerated.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)