Kiran Tiwari the wife of murdered right-wing leader Kamlesh Tiwari will take charge as the president of the Hindu Samaj Party (HSP) on Saturday.
“Kiran Tiwari, who has been unanimously appointed as our leader, will take charge at the party’s Lucknow office today. She will later be presented before the media as HSP’s newly appointed national President,” said Rajesh Mani Tripathi, National General Secretary, HSP.
Kiran Tiwari, had on October 18, demanded Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath meet the family and threatened self-immolation if her husband’s killers were not brought to account.
“I will commit self-immolation right at this place along with my children,” she was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
She and her family later went to meet the Chief Minister at his residence.
Former leader of the Hindu Mahasabha Kamlesh Tiwari was shot dead and his throat slit in broad daylight in Lucknow last week.
The attackers wearing saffron clothes, on the pretext of handing over a box of sweets, walked into Tiwari’s office in Khurshid Bagh area. Soon after walking in, they took out the firearm and shot Tiwari.
This is the fourth murder of a right-wing leader this month. BJP leaders Chaudhary Yashpal Singh, Kabir Tiwari and Dhara Singh were killed on October 8, October 10 and October 13 respectively.
UP Police has termed the murder as a fallout of “communal hate”.
Tiwari had earlier made highly controversial remarks involving Prophet Muhammad. He was arrested and the National Security Act (NSA) was slapped on him. Later the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court revoked the NSA against him.
Two main accused, Ashfaq Hussain (34) and Moinuddin Pathan (27), were arrested on Tuesday. The two, who were from Surat in Gujarat, were arrested by Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad from the Gujarat-Rajasthan border.
Six persons, including three from Surat and one from Nagpur in Maharashtra, have already been taken into custody in connection with the murder case.