Flags of BJP and Congress.
Credit: PTI File Photos
New Delhi: The BJP and the Congress sparred over right-wing group Shri Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena president Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi's killing on Tuesday, with both parties claiming that the law-and-order scenario deteriorates under the other's dispensation.
Gogamedi was shot dead in the living room of his house in Rajasthan's Jaipur by three armed men, one of whom was also killed in retaliatory firing, police said.
One of Gogamedi's security guards sustained bullet injuries in the exchange of fire with the assailants, who had gone to the Karni Sena leader's house in Jaipur's Shyam Nagar area on the pretext of meeting him, police said. The incident was caught on CCTV.
Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat slammed the previous Congress regime in Rajasthan for the law-and-order situation, saying this is the adverse effect of the way "gang wars have flourished" in the desert state since the time of the Ashok Gehlot government.
"Due to the threats that Karni Sena president late Sukhdev Singhji had received, he had filed a police complaint and also warned the administration about it. But unfortunately, security was not provided at the level at which it should have been provided," he told PTI at the Parliament complex here.
Those who have committed this heinous act should be immediately arrested and given severe punishment, Shekhawat added.
"Shocked by the news of the killing of Shri Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi, the national president of Shri Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena. We are committed to arresting the accused as soon as possible. I assure the people that making Rajasthan crime-free is our first priority as soon as the BJP government takes oath," party leader from the state and former Union minister Rajyavardhan Rathore said.
Senior Congress leader Pramod Tewari claimed that the courage of criminals in Rajasthan has gone up just after the information that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is coming to power in the state.
"It was under the Congress regime that culprits were nabbed within four hours. If in Jaipur, the capital, this is the situation, then you can imagine for yourself," he said.
Congress leader Rajeev Shukla pointed out that the Karni Sena president was killed only days after his party was voted out of power in Rajasthan.
"They (BJP) created a huge ruckus over the issue, you know which one, during the polls. What is their reply on this? The killing of the Karni Sena president is wrong. Justice was being done under the Gehlot government and as soon as it left, the problem has started," Shukla said.