Ex-BJP MLA’s son, aide shot at

lucknow: son of a former bharatiya janata party (bjp) mla of haidergarh and his aide were shot at by two youths following an heated exchange in barabanki on monday evening. the victims were rushed to lucknow and admitted to the kgmc. the former mla has charged another former bjp mla puttu awasthi for instigating the accused to assault his son in order to settle political score.reports said that pradeep singh and rajendra singh, both residents of irrigation colony in haidergarh allegedly assaulted r tewari, the driver of the mla sunder lal dixit on sunday. on monday around 3 pm, mla's son pankaj (28) along with his friend allan khan reached the irrigation department residence of pradeep and rajendra to enquire about the reason which led to the assault. the two sides allegedly got involved in an heated argument following which rajendra whipped out his licensed revolver and opened fire. while pankaj suffered a gunshot wound on his right shoulder, allan was hit on the face. they were immediately rushed to the local hospital for primary treatment from where they were referred to the civil hospital in lucknow. later in the evening, the two injured were again referred to the kgmc where the doctors attending on them said that the victims were out of danger. an fir has been lodged with kotwali, haidergarh in connection with the incident where pradeep and rajendra have been named as accused. talking to mediamen, former mla sunder lal dixit said that the incident was a fallout of political rivalry with puttu awasthi, bjp mla from haidergarh, who had vacated his seat recently for rajnath singh. dixit alleged that awasthi was patronising the two accused which gave them the confidence to attack his son and his friend over a trivial issue. he said that puttu awasthi was close to the chief minister rajnath singh and hence was calling the shots with the district administration. sp barabanki akhilesh malhotra and dm barabanki anita bhatnagar were present at the hospital but refused to comment on the matter.