SP, Cong stage protest outside UP Assembly demanding removal of Union minister Ajay Mishra

On Wednesday as the UP Assembly began its last session before the state polls, the opposition Samajwadi Party and Congress staged protests outside the Assembly, demanding the removal of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra over the Lakhimpur Kheri inicident.

Lucknow: The opposition Samajwadi Party and Congress staged protests outside the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday, demanding the removal of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra over the Lakhimpur Kheri inicident, as the House began its last session before the state polls.

Legislators of the main opposition Samajwadi Party also raised the issues of price rise and problems of farmers while carrying placards, cutouts of LPG cylinders and sugarcane stalks.

"We demand removal of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra. Apart from this, we want to draw the attention of the union and the state governments toward spiralling inflation, a host of problems faced by the farmers including those who grow sugarcane," SP MLC Rajpal Kashyap said.

"The law and order situation is very bad in the state," he alleged.

Expelled BSP MLA Aslam Raini also joined the SP protest.

The protesters hit out at the state government over the recent question paper leak of the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET). The exam was cancelled after the paper leak.

Another SP MLC Ashutosh Sinha alleged that the state government had adopted a "very indifferent" attitude towards the people who are facing a plethora of problems every day.

"The people of the state have made up their mind to overthrow this government in the coming elections," he claimed.

The Congress party also took out a march from GPO to UP assembly complex demanding the removal of Union Minister Ajay Mishra in connection with the October 3 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

"What is the reason and the circumstances that Ajay Mishra has not been removed so far? Why is the government shielding him?," UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu told the media.

"The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence has said that it was a pre-planned conspiracy causing death,” Lallu, MLA from in Tamkuhi Raj in Kushinagar district, said.

He said that the prime minister is busy with "management of events...When will he take action? When will the farmers get justice?"

MOS Ajay Mishra, Lok Sabha MP from Kheri, has been in the eye of a storm following the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri in which eight persons, including four farmers, were killed.

His son Ashish Misra is among the 13 accused lodged in jail in connection with the incident.

The UP Congress chief said that the party will raise in the House issues of inflation, unemployment, TET question paper leak, problems facing the sugarcane farmers, the problem of stray animals and law and order in the House.

With the winter session of the assembly being the last one of the current Assembly, opposition parties are likely to maintain an aggressive stance.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), however, stayed away from the protests.

The BSP is left with only three MLAs after the exodus of 16 of its legislators to different parties. BSP had won 19 seats in the 2017 state polls.

Shyam Sundar (from Mant in Mathura), Uma Shankar Singh (leader of BSP in UP Assembly and MLA from Rasra in Ballia) and Azad Ari Mardan (from Lalganj in Azamgarh) are the only three BSP MLAs in the house at present.

PTI