Known for his controversial remarks, BJP legislator from Ballia Surendra Singh on Friday justified extortion of people who have amassed wealth through illegal means.
''Those, who earn money through illegal means, should be ready for extortion... There is nothing wrong in extorting money from the corrupt,'' Singh said in an informal chat with reporters in Ballia, about 400 kilometre from Lucknow.
He said that the corrupt people did not hesitated in paying ''protection money''. ''Such people are afraid of the consequences of their misdeeds and easily pay the criminals,'' the MLA remarked.
Singh was reacting to the reported extortion calls made to a few politicians in the state.
''No criminal can dare demand protection money from me... I will pay them back in the same way if any one dares,'' he added.
The Opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) slammed the MLA for his remarks saying that the latter had virtually defended the criminals. ''The MLA is justifying a criminal act,'' said a senior SP leader in Lucknow.
Earlier also Singh had embarrassed the state government and the saffron party by his controversial remarks.
A few days back the MLA had held the parents responsible for the rising incidents of rapes in the state. ''The parents have failed to inculcate good habits in their children resulting in rapes,'' he had said.
Singh had also defended the rape accused party MLA Kuldeep Senger and said that no one would rape a mother of three-four children.
