E-Paper
Heated exchange in U.P. assembly over caste census, dynasty in politics
Leader of the Congress Legislature Party Aradhana Mishra said the state government had failed to spend 50% of the annual budget- 2023-24 . Then what was the need of the supplementary budget? Even the supplementary budget had failed to fulfill the aspirations of the people
Lucknow: The legislative assembly witnessed a heated exchange between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition members over the issue of dynasty in politics and caste census during the debate on Supplementary Budget on Thursday.
Leader of the Congress Legislature Party Aradhana Mishra said the state government had failed to spend 50% of the annual budget- 2023-24 . Then what was the need of the supplementary budget? Even the supplementary budget had failed to fulfill the aspirations of the people. There was no mention of the promises made in the Sankalp Patra released by the BJP during the 2022 assembly election campaign. The state government was yet to give scooty to girls or increase the pension of physically diabled, widows and old people. The state government had failed to double the income of the farmers and give them free electricity , she said.
Energy minister AK Sharma said the supplementary budget would pave the way for the development of the state and to achieve one trillion economy target. “The opposition members said that I have become minister after struggle and I am new to politics. I do not belong to a political dynasty whereas the opposition members are of the view that only persons belonging to political dynasty have the right to join politics,” he said.
The SP members opposed the statement of Sharma. Lalji Verma and Sangram Singh Yadav said the SP MLAs had been elected by the people, not with the blessings of a leader.
SP MLA Pallavi Patel said fund had not been allocated for the development of Jain, Sikh and Buddhist religious spots in the supplementary budget. The allocation was only for the development of Hindu religious spots. The OBC and Dalits had played an important role in the election of the BJP government but fund had not been allocated for their welfare, she said.
“There is a large number of OBC and Dalits MLAs in the BJP but none has raised demand for caste census whereas I have moved private member bill for the caste census,” she said.
Parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Kumar Khanna said the House was debating over the supplementary budget, so the opposition should not raise other issues.
