Protests mark first day of UP assembly winter session

Both the Houses of the Uttar Pradesh State Legislature were disrupted on the first day of the winter session as a belligerent opposition protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the ensuing violence over it.

As soon as the Houses assembled, the Samajwadi Party (SP), which is the main opposition party, stormed into the well carrying placards with slogans against the government.

Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit repeatedly asked members to leave the placards aside since it was against the rules of the House, but SP members were not ready to beat the retreat.

The Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress members also protested, but in a peaceful manner by standing up on their seats.

The Speaker had to adjourn the House initially for 30 minutes which was later extended and the entire question hour was washed away.

Similar scenes were witnessed in the Vidhan Parishad where the House had to be adjourned due to protests by the SP Legislators.

Later, the supplementary budget was tabled by State Finance Minister Suresh Khanna. The size of the budget is Rs 4,210.85 crores.

Later, talking to reporters, leader of opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary, said that the government was in no mood to address issues that are of prime importance and was using its numerical strength to dominate over the opposition.IANS