Gaziabad, May 12 (Agencies): Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley have been taken into preventive custody by Uttar Pradesh Police in Ghaziabad for agitating in support of farmers of Greater Noida's Bhatta Parsaul village.

Singh along with Jaitley was taken into custody soon after he begun his 24-hour hunger strike in Ghaziabad in support of farmers.
"They can put us in jail 100 times but we will fight for the farmers. I will continue the hunger strike even in police custody. We are not thugs," said Singh.

Before launching his hunger strike, SIngh addressed the BJP workers present their and blamed both the Mayawati government and the Congress for the farmers' agitation.

"The representatives of farmers should decide on the compensation and not Mayawati. Assembly elections are near so there should be drama and that is the Congress' plan. Mayawati response to the agitation is barbaric. When Rajnath wants to go to Bhatta Parsaul, he is not allowed. But when Congress' Yuvraj (Rahul Gandhi) goes, Section 144 ends. It shows Congress is being supported by the BSP. What happened in Bhatta Parsaul, it is still not know now many are killed, injured or absconding," he said.

Singh, who is the MP from Ghaziabad, was arrested on Tuesday when he had tried to enter Bhatta Parsaul, the epicentre of protests by farmers who have been demanding better compensation for their land that has been acquired by the Uttar Pradesh government for the Yamuna Expressway projects.