LUCKNOW The Uttar Pradesh legislative council on Friday witnessed a heated exchange of words between Samajwadi Party (SP) and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLCs over farmer’ issues.
It started with SP’s Naresh Uttam Patel accusing the incumbent government of betraying farmers. He said that the farmers are in a crisis while adding that the state government has not taken any action to double their income.
Countering allegations, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said that the BJP government is the true well-wisher of farmers. “The state is taking all possible steps to increase their income despite the cost of cultivation going up over the years... Farmers remain on top of the government’s agenda,” the deputy CM added.
However, the response failed to satisfy the Opposition and several of SP MLCs trooped into the well of the House and raised slogans against the government. This prompted chairman Kunwar Manvendra Singh to adjourn the House for 15 minutes.
Earlier in the day, SP members had staged a walkout from the House to demand an increase in the monthly honorarium of shiksha mitras. They wanted it to be hiked to ₹40,000. Later, in the evening, the House unanimously passed the Governor’s Vote of Thanks after a brief debate and exchange of arguments between the Opposition and the government.