Pandemonium on opening day of Uttar Pradesh assembly budget session

LUCKNOW - Chaos marked the opening day of the budget session of Uttar Pradesh assembly Friday as the entire opposition disrupted proceedings demanding dismissal of the government of “criminals and rapists”.

The din prevented Governor B.L. Joshi from reading out his address to the joint sitting of the legislature.

As soon as Joshi rose to start his customary address, members of the opposition Samajwadi Party, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised slogans against the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), demanding dismissal of the three-and-a half-year old Mayawati government, which they termed as a “reign of terror”.

Dressed in black kurtas, Samajwadi Party members took the lead in raising anti-government slogans while Leader of Opposition Shiv Pal Yadav sought to term the ruling dispensation as a gang of criminals and rapists”.

Members belonging to the Congress and BJP carried placards bearing anti-government slogans and highlighting the rising incidences of rape under the present regime.

Opposition members climbed atop the desks as they shouted slogans, while some went a step further, throwing paper balls at the podium in their bid to prevent the governor from reading out his speech.

Samajwadi Party members aggressively also echoed their demand for immediate release of arrested Independent legislator Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, who they allegedly was booked on “trumped up” charges.

With his words getting lost in the noise and din, Joshi read out the first and last lines of his address before departing from the house following which the house was adjourned within 15 minutes of its commencement.

The house reassembled after an hour only to be adjourned after barely 30 minutes. The next sitting of the assembly is scheduled for Monday.

Earlier, reacting sharply to the opposition tirade against her government, Mayawati trained her arsenals at the Samajwadi Party, which she termed as “gang of goondas (goons)”. She also made it clear that Raja Bhaiya would not be spared and law would take its course against him.

Vehemently refuting the opposition’s charge of poor law and order in the state, Mayawati asserted the state’s law and order was far better than most Indian states and stressed it was her government that has “never hesitated in taking the most deterrent action against our own ministers, MPs and MLAs (legislators) whenever they were found to be indulging in any unlawful activity”.