Ajay Mishra is a Minister of State for Home in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government
Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni smiled to the cameras and said nothing this morning when he was asked about a court granting bail to his son Ashish Mishra, who is accused of running over farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri in October.
Ajay Mishra was campaigning for the BJP in Lakhimpur when NDTV asked him to respond to opposition attacks over bail for his murder-accused son in the middle of the Uttar Pradesh election.
The Minister smiled, got into his car and drove off to start his campaign for the day.
"Our government has worked according to the ideals of the BJP, and has given the poor their rights. A chief minister like Yogi Adityanath, a Prime Minister like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, JP Nadda, such a beautiful and competent leadership, and Yogi has a unique capability to run the government," Mr Mishra said at a public meeting.
Lakhimpur votes in the fourth phase of the UP election on February 23.
Ajay Mishra is a Minister of State for Home in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government and has remained so despite opposition calls for his removal over the allegations against his son.
He is believed to be one of the most influential leaders of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, especially in Lakhimpur, which is in the region bordering Nepal. In the previous UP election in 2017, the BJP won all eight assembly seats in Lakhimpur in a campaign led by Mr Mishra, a Brahmin face.
BJP sources say with his son getting bail, the pros outweigh the cons for the party when it comes to Mr Mishra.
Ashish Mishra was granted bail yesterday by the Allahabad High Court, which rejected the police investigation and questioned some of the charges against him.
On October 3, protesting farmers were on a march against the minister's visit to the area for an event when his convoy crashed into them.
In videos that caused horror and outrage, an SUV was seen crushing farmers without breaking speed. Ashish Mishra was allegedly driving the SUV, though both he and his father have denied it.
Four farmers and a journalist were run over. Violence broke out right after this, as protesters chased those in the BJP convoy and beat them. Three more, including two BJP workers, were killed.
Ashish Mishra was arrested days after the incident, and only after the Supreme Court stepped in and berated the police and UP administration over its slow response.
UP police sources claim their 5,000-page charge-sheet against Ashish Mishra and the other accused place him at the spot on the day of the incident using multiple eye witness accounts, CCTV footage and photographs.