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‘Union minister Ajay Mishra should step down taking responsibility of Lakhimpur Kheri incident’: NCP chief Sharad Pawar
“Minister of state Ajay Mishra should resign taking the responsibility of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident of killing of farmers,” Sharad Pawar said.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that Ajay Mishra, Union minister of state for home affairs, should resign from his post, taking responsibility for the October 3 Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed.
Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra, who was allegedly present in one of the cars that had hit protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police earlier on October 9 and was sent to a three-day police remand on Monday. However, the minister and his son have both denied the claim that he was present at the spot during the incident.
“Minister of state Ajay Mishra should resign taking the responsibility of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident of killing of farmers,” Pawar said during a press conference at the NCP office in Mumbai. Further, he also insisted that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party should “take a stand” regarding the incident and said, “neither UP CM [Yogi Adityanath] nor MoS Home [Ajay Mishra] can escape,” news agency ANI reported.
Also read | Congress delegation meets President Kovind, submits memorandum on Lakhimpur
Further, the NCP chief also said that the ‘Maharashtra bandh’ called by the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition in Maharashtra on Monday was “successful.”
“I received telephones from Uttar Pradesh to express gratitude for the support Maharashtra extended towards the farmers and their families in UP,” Pawar said.
Earlier on October 11, the MVA consisting of the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress, called for a statewide bandh over the Lakhimpur incident. While there were some incidents of violence reported, the transport services remained largely operational barring occasional disturbances.
The remarks came on the same day as a Congress delegation, led by party leader Rahul Gandhi, met President Ram Nath Kovind and submitted a memorandum regarding the violence. The party demanded for the resignation of Ajay Mishra and also an independent judicial probe into the matter by sitting judges of the Supreme Court or the High Court.
Meanwhile, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is currently on an official visit to the US, said that the incident was “absolutely condemnable” but said that such incidents are happening elsewhere in the country too. When asked about the violence during an event, the minister said that such incidents should be raised whenever they happen and not just from states where the BJP is in power.
(With agency inputs)
