Two-state BJP unease grows over Rekha Arya domestic violence case and husband’s threats

Uttarakhand minister Rekha Arya’s husband has threatened to sit on a dharna outside the residence of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence later, if an impartial probe is not conducted into the domestic violence complaint filed by his wife.

Arya, the woman and child development minister in the hill state's BJP government, had last week filed a domestic violence case against her husband Girdhari Lal Sahu, accusing him of torturing and threatening to kill her if she didn’t give him money. Police have filed an FIR and started looking for him.

Sahu, who lives in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly, had earlier released a video from an undisclosed location claiming that Arya was miffed with him because he had asked her not to contest the 2027 Assembly elections. He had also accused his wife of amassing ₹210 crore in ill-gotten wealth and filing a police complaint against him based on an AI-generated audio clip.

Arya is a BJP MLA from Someshwar Assembly seat in Almorah district and is preparing to contest from there again.

In a fresh video that has surfaced on social media, Sahu said: “I am also a BJP man. I was a BJP-supported municipal councillor from 1995 to 2000. I had also contested the mayoral election with my party’s support in 2000. I am still with the BJP and hold 37 posts in different religious wings of the party.

“I will sit on a dharna outside the residence of chief minister Yogi Adityanath if an impartial inquiry is not conducted. I may also sit on a dharna at the Prime Minister’s residence. The option of moving the high court is also open.… I am innocent and have not committed any crime.”

Sahu also appealed to Arya to reconsider her police complaint.

“You have not been good to me. We lived together for 25 years. Don’t get carried away by emotions… don’t do this on others’ suggestions. God will never pardon you,” he said.

Sahu, a property dealer, had earlier claimed that he funded and shaped his wife’s political career.

Sahu, who has been absconding ever since the FIR was registered against him, has murder and land-grabbing cases pending against him in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

“We consider this a fight between husband and wife. Either they resolve it themselves or the police will get involved. But dragging this issue for long, when Assembly elections are due in the two states after a few months, will send across a negative message,” a BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh told this newspaper on the condition of anonymity.