Lucknow, May 13 (IANS) The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has strongly refuted Congress leader Digvijay Singh's allegations about the massacre of farmers by the Uttar Pradesh police in Greater Noida's Bhatta-Parsaul village.

"Known for issuing irresponsible statements, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has once again made a baseless, sweeping and false allegation against the Mayawati government with the intent of tarnishing her image," a party spokesman said in a statement issued here late Thursday night.

"It appears that other than issuing ridiculous statements to gain cheap publicity, Digvijay Singh has nothing to do," the statement said.

According to the BSP spokesman, "arson and violence in Bhatta-Parsaul were carried out by anti-social elements at the behest of certain opposition parties, who were out to vitiate the atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh." He felt that the situation would have been much worse if the police had not taken timely action.

He said, "The state administration got into action only after trouble was incited by opposition agents and the lives of two policemen were lost; and that was the reason the government decided to give an ex gratia of Rs.5 lakh to their families." He also lamented the death of two villages in the crossfire.

State's special director general of police Brij Lal also vehemently denied the charge about any kind of indiscriminate killing by the cops in Bhatta-Parsaul. "The charge is just a bunch of lies," he asserted.