Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 18 : Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak has sent a legal notice to the Samajwadi Party media cell for allegedly putting a derogatory X post targeting him.
Terming the comments "irresponsible and lowly," advocate Prashant Singh Atal, who represents Deputy CM Pathak, stated that such conduct from a political party was deeply unfortunate and had no place in civil discourse.
"It was a very irresponsible and lowly act. It is very unfortunate that such things have come to the public domain," Atal told ANI.
He said the remarks were in gross violation of political decorum and amounted to defamation.
"The Samajwadi Party should seek an unconditional apology from SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav, his state president, and his media cell. The party should delete those tweets and make sure not to tweet such types of things in the future," he said.
According to the advocate Atal, 15 days' time has been given to the Samajwadi Party to delete the related tweets, and issue a public apology.
"Brajesh Pathak has an important position in UP. He is the deputy chief minister, and making such 'light talk' against him is crossing the boundaries. Delete the tweets, issue a public apology and put it forward within 15 days, otherwise, we will file a defamation case, civil and criminal, against SP," said the advocate.
On Saturday, the Bharatiya Janata Party filed an FIR against the media cell of the Samajwadi Party for making 'derogatory remarks' against Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak on the party's social media account on X.
Anand Dwivedi, District BJP Chief, lodged the FIR at the Hazratganj police station under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the IT Act.
Responding to the same, Brajesh Pathak had earlier said that the post reflected poorly on the SP's culture and standards.
"Reading the words used by the SP media cell colleagues while criticising, it does not seem that this party is still the party of Ram Manohar Lohia and Janeshwar Mishra. The so-called 'socialists' have forgotten George Saheb's words that camps should be organised and people should be educated. Akhileshji! Make the SP members read Lohia-JP and make them listen to Pandit Janeshwar ji's speeches, so that socialism is reflected in their behaviour and speech," he posted on X.
"If you do not have Lohia's books, I can make them available to you...Oh great Lohia, Janeshwarji! Forgive these fools, they have not been taught, educated or explained anything. They do not know what socialism is? They have turned socialism into a laboratory of abuse, arrogance and low-grade comments. If this is their form while in opposition, one can easily guess what they would have done while in power," his post read.
"It is also surprising that these Shishupals of the culture of arrogance, obscenity and anarchy even dare to take the name of Yogeshwar Krishna in their defence. O Yogeshwar Krishna, keep treating these Shishupals in the same way as the people of UP have been doing for the last ten years. This will be their fate," his post added.
Though the SP media cell has deleted the said post, Pathak has shared its screenshot from his X account.
Reacting to the post, Pathak questioned whether Akhilesh Yadav's wife, Dimpal Yadav, would endorse such a depraved mentality.
"Akhilesh ji, is this the language of your party? This is the official handle of your party!! Is this the choice of words for someone's deceased parents? In a democracy, agreement-disagreement-allegations-counter-allegations have been going on and will continue to go on, but will you bring your party to this level? Will respected Dimple ji accept this anti-women and degraded mentality?" he captioned with his post.
The controversy stems from a now-deleted post allegedly made by the SP media cell on X with a remark targeting Pathak's DNA, prompting a strong reaction from the deputy CM.