Meerut: Former BSP MLA Yogesh Verma was declared the party’s candidate from Bulandshahr seat on Friday. He was in the news recently after being named as the “main conspirator” behind the April 2 Bharat Bandh Dalit protests. Verma was earlier announced as the Lok Sabha seat in-charge from Bulandshahr.Slapped with NSA and imprisoned for allegedly orchestrating violence during Bharat Bandh Dalit protests, Verma is also the husband of incumbent Meerut mayor Sunita Verma.Asked if the April 2 violence controversy will hamper his chances in the elections, Verma said, “I don’t think the controversy will do any harm. In fact, this will do me good because people know that I was framed unnecessarily. People will support me as I was falsely implicated in the case.”Various Dalit outfits had called for a nationwide shutdown or a Bharat Bandh on April 2 to protest against the alleged dilution of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by the Supreme Court. Verma was termed the “main conspirator” of this violence in which more than 200 people were detained and accused were booked under NSA.Verma had earlier said, “I will neither forget nor let others forget the April 2 violence. I remained in jail for six months and BJP will get answer for that time. I have noted down the names of all those who were unfair to me and they will get their answer in 2019 elections.”After Verma was arrested in the backdrop of the April 2 violence, the police further investigated the previous 26 odd criminal cases that are pending against him. These included those of attempt to murder, robbery, loot and under Gangster Act – the status of which is also being examined.

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