NEW DELHI, 10 January 2008 — Political wranglings between Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav spilled over into street violence yesterday claiming the life of one person in Mulayam’s hometown, Safai.

Blaming SP for the violence, Mayawati said: “Samajwadi Party sent hooligans and criminals to protest in Lucknow.” An inquiry will be conducted into the case by the Kanpur commissioner, she said. The police used necessary force to control the mob, she added.

While authorities admitted the death of a student in police firing, they refused to take responsibility for the killing. “We have to look at the picture in totality, so I am not in a position to tell you right away as to who was responsible for the student’s death,” Principal Home Secretary J.N. Chamber said.

Earlier, on Tuesday afternoon, a group of students’ wing of SP had tried to give a memorandum to two ministers of UP government. The students’ demand was restoration of elections in degree colleges of UP. On being prevented by the police from giving a memorandum to the ministers, the students turned unruly.

“Police had to intervene as the mob started breaking flower pots and damaging property. We arrested 19 men, including some ex-student leaders,” Inspector General of Police Arvind Kumar Jain said.

Later in the day, SP workers, led by Shivpal Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav (Mulayam Singh’s son and legislator), staged a protest outside the office of senior superintendent of police.

“Since they had blocked traffic, we detained Shivpal, Akhilesh, Ahmed Hasan, Arvind Singh Gope and 93 others. They were taken to the police lines and released early this morning,” Jain said yesterday.

Giving his party’s version, Mulayam said: “The students were unarmed and they were only holding a protest but the police opened fire. One person died as a result of the firing. We are getting reports that the chief minister ordered the firing. All the people responsible should be sent to jail. The chief minister and the DGP (director general police) are the ones responsible.”

Shivpal, a former minister in Mulayam’s government, said: “We were there to express our views peacefully. The police got violent right from the start and thrashed us and dragged us into the van.”

Blaming the UP police and UP government, Akhilesh said: “This government is out to kill democracy.”