UP assembly session begins amid bedlam

Lucknow, Aug 22 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh assembly on the first day of its monsoon session on Monday plunged into pandemonium over poor law and order situation in the state.

While legislators of the main opposition Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) created a ruckus in the Legislative Council, the lower house was adjourned for the day after paying tributes to departed members.

The BSP legislators were supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress in the upper house where the main opposition party tore into the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) alleging total breakdown of the law and order machinery in the state.

Led by Leader of Opposition Naseemuddin Siddiqui, BSP members said the government of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had lost its right to continue in office after the gang rape of a woman and her teenage daughter on a highway in Bulandshahr last month.

The issue of Jawaharbagh in Mathura was also raised, where two police officials and 21 people were killed in violence during an anti-encroachment drive.

The BJP legislators have already questioned the move of the SP government to bring in a supplementary budget.

Leader of the BJP legislature party Suresh Khanna said priority areas had been ignored in the budgetary provisions.

The Chief Minister, who also holds the finance portfolio, is likely to present a supplementary budget of Rs 25,000 crore.

The major chunk of this budget — Rs 6,000 crore — is being allocated to the PWD department, headed by Shivpal Singh Yadav, as major roads in the state are in need of repairs.