New Delhi: IAS officer Pranjal Yadav, who finds himself in the eye of a controversy over a Narendra Modi rally in Varanasi, has drawn both censure and praise in the last 24 hours.
The BJP's Arun Jaitley called him a "delinquent officer" and accused him of showing blatant bias by refusing permission for a Modi rally at their preferred location in Varanasi.
The party wants him removed as Returning Officer for Varanasi, from where Modi is running for Parliament.
Ever since Pranjal, as the returning officer, delayed permission to Narendra Modi's rally in the holy city, posters have come up in many places questioning his neutrality in the electoral process.
In one such image that has gone viral on social media, Pranjal is described as the son of Mulayam's first cousin.
Yadav, 34, is the District Magistrate of Varanasi, which will vote on May 12, in the last round of the staggered nine-phase national election. He is an IIT graduate known to champion development.
Born in 1980, Pranjal is a 2006 batch IAS officer. He was the Azamgarh DM before he was transferred to Varanasi.
