BJP SHOULD GHERAO PARLIAMENT INSTEAD: CM

LUCKNOW: Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday targeted the BJP for its ‘gherao’ outside the Vidhan Sabha and said instead of sitting on a ‘dharna’ in the Vidhan Sabha its legislators should hold a ‘gherao’ of Parliament over Centre’s failure to provide desired funds for the development of Uttar Pradesh. “Go and ‘gherao’ parliament. UP has not got funds that the state should have got,” said chief minister before the demands of grant he presented in the house on Tuesday were presented to vote on Wednesday. As the chief minister delivered his brief address on the supplementary budget, the BJP members continued to shout slogans against his government and jostled with the watch and ward staff. Later, BJP MLA Suresh Rana also raised “Vande Mataram” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” slogans. Yadav said the Centre did not cooperate with the state government on the issue of providing assistance to farmers whose crops were damaged by the hailstorm. An arrangement of Rs 2000 crore had been made in the supplementary budget to provide relief to the farmers, he said. His government had also allocated funds for acquisition of land for construction of Samajwadi Poorvanchal Expressway, he said. “It appears they (BJP) are opposed to construction of Poorvanchal Expressway,” said the chief minister while hinting at the BJP legislators who continued to throng the well of the house when the chief minister and the leader of opposition delivered their address. The chief minister waved a copy of state govenrment’s pending requests with the Centre and said the BJP did not want development in the state. “This is such a voluminous book,” he said. The people of the state would support the Samajwadi Party government and show mirror to the BJP, said Yadav. Without naming Nagla Fatela, the chief minister referred to the village saying how the Prime Minister had made claims about the electrification there and posted a picture of people watching the TV. Later the picture was removed, he said. At this point minister for parliamentary affairs Mohammad Azam Khan said the BJP had cheated the people. Yadav also reacted to BSP chief Mayawati’s observations that the chief minister should not call her ‘bua’ and said she should tell him how she wanted him to address her. Earlier, the BJP members had entered the well of the house when the house assembled at 11 am. They sat on a ‘dharna’ and refused to leave despite repeated requests from speaker Mata Prasad Pandey. Soon the speaker adjourned the house till 12.20 pm. Later when the house reassembled, the speaker conducted the listed business amid noisy scenes. The BJP members continued to shout slogans and displayed placards carrying “janata trast- sarkar mast” and “mahilaon par atyacharhighway par balatkar” slogans. Question hour could not be held and even leader of opposition Gaya Charan Dinkar’s address and chief minister’s replies were made amid slogan shouting.