Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav
For putting up posters declaring Mulayam Singh Yadav 'missing' in his constituency Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, four BJP workers were arrested on Monday and booked for defamation.
The workers were arrested in Azamgarh while they were putting up the posters that announced in Hindi: "Find Mulayam, win reward." They were later let out on bail.
The BJP claims that Mulayam Singh, the chief of the state's ruling Samajwadi Party, has not visited his constituency since he won the election in May. The party has been running a campaign in Azamgarh and recently took out a "lantern rally" in a symbolic search for the MP.
The arrests have been slammed by the BJP, which alleges that its workers were denied the right to protest.
Sarang Dhar Dwivedi, a senior police officer in Azamgarh, said the BJP workers had "disrespected" an MP who has been regularly attending Parliament.
Mulayam Singh, 75, won the national election from both Mainpuri and Azamgarh. He gave up Mainpuri, from where his grand-nephew Tej Pratap Singh won by-polls.
BJP workers deride Mulayam Singh for calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi an "outsider" in Varanasi, the constituency that elected him to Parliament.
"Now who is an outsider in his constituency?" a BJP activist jeered.
Mulayam Singh's party men has come to his defence, saying all grievances of the district were being addressed and everything was running smoothly on his orders.
Earlier this year, actor turned BJP lawmaker Hema Malini faced similar posters declaring her "missing" in her Lok Sabha constituency Mathura. The MP had also registered poor attendance in Parliament.