UP: Samajwadi Party MLAs hold protest outside Assembly over unemployment

15:12 August 20

UP: Oppn set to corner govt on rising crime rate during monsoon session

Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh are gearing up to corner the BJP-led government on the law and order front during the ongoing monsoon session of the state Assembly.

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, who is a sitting MLA from Tamukhiraj assembly constituency in Kushinagar district, said, "The Congress will raise issues of the poor law and order situation in the state, women security, problems faced by the farmers and flood".

Samajwadi Party MLA from Mohanlalganj in Lucknow Ambrish Pushkar said, "The UP government has failed on all fronts. Be it the law and order situation or the corona crisis. It also fears that BJP MLAs may corner it on a number of issues, as its own MLAs are angry with it."

14:12 August 20

Yogi Adityanath pays tribute to sitting, former Assembly members who passed away recently

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday paid tributes to sitting and former members who passed away recently at the start of the three-day Assembly session of Uttar Pradesh.

Adityanath paid tributes to sitting BJP MLAs Kamal Rani Varun, Chetan Chauhan and senior leader Virendra Singh Sirohi, former member and Paras Nath Yadav, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader in his speech.

14:02 August 20

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh meet MLAs outside Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Thursday.

The MLAs were sloganeering and holding placards questioning the state government when will the youths get the jobs in the state.

11:35 August 20

Samajwadi Party MLAs protest outside UP Assembly

Samajwadi Party MLAs held a protest against the Yogi Aditanath-led government outside the state Assembly over the issue of unemployment as three-day assembly session began on Thursday.

The protesters were heard sloganeering and holding placards questioning the state government when will the youths get the jobs in the state.

Some of the protesters also alleged that the BJP government in the state is practising corruption after coming to power.

Notably, the three-day monsoon session of the Uttar Pradesh assembly is underway despite the spread of the coronavirus in the state. The assembly administration is taking all the precautions to prevent an outbreak of the virus in the assembly.

11:33 August 20

UP govt needs to answer opposition queries on law and order: Akhilesh Yadav

Ahead of the UP Assembly session, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said the government needs to answer opposition queries on various issues including unemployment and law and order situation.

In a tweet in Hindi, Yadav said, "This session of the UP Legislative Assembly is going to be historic in a number of ways. The government has to answer questions raised by the opposition and its own people on coronavirus, unemployment, casteist atrocities and poor law and order."

"The Government's thoko neeti (encounter policy) has become a point of internal discord (aantarik kalah) instead of becoming a point of reconciliation (sulah)," Yadav claimed

10:27 August 20

UP Assembly session begins under Covid shadow

Lucknow: The three-day Monsoon Session of the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha is starting on Thursday under strict Covid-19 protocols.

The Assembly session will have only two working days since the duration of the session has been curtailed because of the pandemic.

Assembly Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit said, "The Assembly administration is taking all the precautions to prevent an outbreak in the Assembly. Last week, 600 staff members of the House were asked to take coronavirus tests and 20 of them were found to be positive for the virus. All Ministers, Legislators will also be allowed entry only after they undergo the Covid test."

In the tests conducted for the Assembly session, state minister Chaudhary Udaibhan Singh and five Legislators have tested positive for Covid-19.

Chief Medical Officer of Lucknow, Dr. R.P. Singh, said, "The minister has been admitted to the Rajdhani Covid Hospital at Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, where a team of doctors is taking care of him."

Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Tejpal Nagar and Sanju Devi, and an MLC, Parvez Ali, also tested positive according to the Vidhan Sabha officials.

Most of the elderly Legislators in both the Houses of the state Legislature will not be attending the session in view of the pandemic.

Leader of opposition in the Assembly, Ram Govind Chaudhary, who has recently recovered from the coronavirus and Ahmad Hasan, leader of opposition in the Vidhan Parishad, are among those who will not attend the session.

However, the Samajwadi Party has said that it will demand a debate on the Covid-19 management, deteriorating law and order situation, problems of farmers and the flood fury.

The Assembly, on Thursday, will adjourn after making obituary references. Two ministers Chetan Chauhan and Kamal Ran Varun have died this month due to the Covid virus. Nearly a dozen ministers have also tested positive for corona.

Assembly officials have ensured that social distancing is maintained inside the House.

Seating areas have been specially marked with Covid-19 protocols. The areas like the visitors' gallery and press gallery have been taken over by the authorities to make seating arrangements for the MLAs while maintaining a safe gap between them.

An advisory sent to the media says only those with Covid-19 negative test results will be allowed to enter the Assembly premises, but they will report from outside the Assembly through LED TVs.

(with inputs from agencies)