Mayawati-Dayashankar Singh row: Expelled BJP leader arrested in Buxar

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) finally managed to arrest expelled BJP leader Dayashankar Singh on Friday. He was held in Bihar’s Buxar district.   Earlier, a photo of Singh, paying obeisance at a temple in Jharkhand went viral on social media with BSP supremo Mayawati ridiculing the Uttar Pradesh government for not arresting Singh alleging he was roaming scot-free in BJP-ruled Jharkhand and giving interviews to media.   On Thursday, he failed to get a stay on his arrest from Allahabad High Court which directed the Uttar Pradesh government to file its reply by August 5 on his plea challenging the lodging of FIR against him for allegedly using derogatory language against BSP supremo Mayawati.   The court fixed August 8 as the next date of hearing.   The entire controversy began after Singh had accused Mayawati of selling her party's election tickets to the highest bidder.   "Mayawati has deviated from the principles that were outlined by Kanshi Ram," he was seen as saying in a video clip.   He then said her decision-making on ticket distribution was akin to that of a sex worker.   "She sells BSP seats to the highest-bidder. In the morning, Mayawati may give a BSP ticket to someone for Rs 1 crore. After two hours, she may sell the same ticket for Rs 2 crore. In the evening, she may even hand over the same seat to another person for Rs 3 crore," said Singh.   After Singh had sparked an outrage by his derogatory comments against the BSP supremo, the party had held huge protests in the state and raised slogans against the BJP's now expelled leader's family.   An FIR was filed against Mayawati along with general secretary Siddiqui and others last Friday on a complaint of Singh's mother Tetra Devi.   She had alleged that Mayawati used "abusive language" against the women members of the family and BSP leaders raised "derogatory" slogans at the protest in Lucknow during which Singh's 12-year-old daughter was also dragged into the row.   Swati (Dayashankar Singh’s wife), who got married to him in 2001 and had remained out of the political limelight so far, also aggressively protested against BSP leaders after this incident saying she was "not defending her husband but fighting for her daughter".