Lucknow: Babban Singh Raghuvanshi, who was sacked by the Uttar Pradesh BJP after an obscene video of him went viral, has claimed the clip is fake. He has also alleged that he was served cold drinks laced with intoxicants at a wedding where the video was taken.
The video at the centre of the controversy purportedly shows the 70-year-old inappropriately touching and kissing a female dancer sitting on his lap. Raghuvanshi claimed it is “fabricated” and made in a bid to damage his social and political image.
Speaking to ThePrint, Raghuvanshi, chairman of Ballia district’s Rasra Cooperative Sugar Mill, said this was all part of a conspiracy by supporters of BJP MLA from Bansdih, Ketaki Singh. On Friday, he also told media persons that his opponent feared he might get a ticket to contest the next assembly elections from Bansdih (Ballia) since he is a distant relative of a UP minister.
The BJP’s expulsion letter, signed by UP BJP general secretary Govind Narayan Shukla and issued Thursday, said Raghuvanshi’s behaviour dented the image of the party and that it could not bear this indiscipline.
Raghuvanshi unsuccessfully contested from Bansdih assembly constituency in 1993 and is preparing to contest the next election from the same seat. This, he alleged, had irked Ketaki’s supporters and so they made that video viral.
Ketaki Singh has, however, denied the allegations. In a statement Thursday, she said, “Babban Singh is of my father’s age. Why would I do such cheap things? What he has done is already in the public domain.”
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav hit out at the BJP over the video in Amethi Thursday, saying it has exposed BJP’s “chaal charitra” (conduct and character). The video also generated backlash on social media.
BJP leaders have so far avoided publicly commenting on the issue.
After his expulsion, Babban Singh Raghuvanshi submitted a written complaint to Ballia district magistrate and superintendent of police.
In the letter, seen by ThePrint, he said that around a month ago, he had gone to Narhan in Bihar with a wedding procession. There, while music was playing and people were dancing, he was sitting on a chair inside a tent when he was given two cold drinks. He alleged that he could not remember anything after the drinks and that they contained intoxicants.
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Active in party for 40 years
Raghuvanshi hails from Ballia district where he started his career as a booth worker. After working in a district committee for a few years, he got a ticket from the BJP to contest the Bansdih seat in 1993. He lost against senior Congress leader Bachcha Pathak by 13,000 votes. In late 1990s, he was appointed to the state working committee of UP BJP.
Sources in UP BJP said that he has been active in the party for over 40 years. He was also an active member of the state BJP’s working committee till 2012.
In 2024, he was elected as a chairman of the Rasra Cooperative Sugar Mill. Several functionaries in UP BJP also told ThePrint that though Raghuvanshi has never been involved in any such controversy in the past controversies, this time, due to the pressure created after his video went viral, the party decided to take action.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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