BJP has captured institutions, ruined economy: Akhilesh
Lucknow (PTI): Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday termed the BJP as a gang of looters, which has "captured institutions and resources" and ruined the economy.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister reiterated his claim of "vote theft" by the BJP in elections, as he criticised the BJP government for unemployment, inflation, and the "failed" foreign policy of the country.
According to a party statement, around 65 "PDA (backward, Dalit, minority)" community leaders from different districts of the state met Yadav on Saturday at the SP headquarters in Lucknow.
All of them unanimously announced their unconditional support to the Samajwadi Party in the upcoming 2027 assembly elections, the SP said.
"The BJP is a gang of looters. It has captured institutions and resources. There is no limit to BJP's lies. It is the biggest liar party. Doing injustice and oppressing people is their agenda," Yadav was quoted as saying in the statement.
"No one is getting justice under the government. BJP is snatching people's rights. Votes have been stolen. They have hurt the electoral process," the party president said.
The 2027 UP Assembly polls, he said, was very important since it would be again be an election to "get freedom". "It is an election to save the Constitution and protect our rights," he said.
Yadav said every section will be part of the Samajwadi Party's government. "Everyone will get justice and respect. Development projects that have been stopped in the state will be resumed, he said.
The SP chief said the BJP government at the Centre and state has "ruined" the economy, with inflation, unemployment, and corruption at their peak.
The BJP government used to make tall claims about its improved status in the world but when the need arose, no country stood with India, the former CM claimed. "The foreign policy has failed."
"During Operation Sindoor, our Army fought valiantly. The Army could have taken PoK, but the central government made a mistake," he said.
Terming China as a "threat" to the country's border, the SP chief said that "due to the central government's wrong policies", China has "intruded" into our territory.
China, he added, has captured India's market, is selling its goods in India, but is not providing raw materials to make fertilisers.
"There is a fertiliser crisis in the state. Farmers are standing in lines for fertilisers. They are forced to hold protests," he said, adding that farmers are getting "police lathis instead of fertilisers".
"If fertilisers are not available, the yield of crops will be adversely affected. The government did not make preparations in advance. If fertilisers are not available from China, then the government should buy them from other countries, even if they are expensive," he said.
The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh is closing schools but increasing the number of liquor shops, he said.
"There are more liquor shops in Uttar Pradesh alone than in New York, USA. The BJP government is ruining the future of the youths. It is eliminating jobs. It is promoting outsourcing and privatisation," Yadav added.
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2019 mud attack on engineer: Maharashtra court sentences BJP minister Nitesh Rane to one-month jail
Mumbai (PTI): A court in Sindhudurg on Monday convicted Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane in a 2019 case of pouring mud on an NHAI engineer when he was in opposition, and sentenced him to one-month imprisonment, noting that lawmakers are not supposed to take the law into their hands.
Later, the court suspended Rane's sentence, allowing him time to appeal before a higher court, while acquitting 29 other accused in the case.
"Even though Rane's intention was to raise a voice against the poor quality of work and inconvenience faced by the people, he was not supposed to humiliate or insult a public servant in public," additional sessions court judge V S Deshmukh stated.
"If such incidents continue to occur, public servants would not be able to discharge their duties with dignity," the judge noted.
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Calling the act "abuse of power", the court held that "it is the demand of time to curb such tendency".
Rane, a son of former Union minister Narayan Rane, was among 30 people charged under various offences, including rioting, assault to deter a public servant, and criminal conspiracy. He was in Congress when the incident occurred.
All the accused, including Nitesh Rane, were acquitted of these offences, as the court found insufficient evidence to support most of these claims.
However, the court found Nitesh Rane guilty of an offence under section 504 (intentional insult meant to provoke a breach of public peace) and sentenced him to one month's jail.
Rane, then a Congress MLA, had called the Sub-Divisional Engineer of the National Highway Authority, Prakash Shedekar, to a bridge over the Gad river in Kankavli on July 4, 2019, for inspecting the work to widen the Mumbai-Goa Highway.
According to the prosecution, Nitesh Rane and his followers, frustrated by the poor quality of the roadwork and waterlogging, confronted the engineer. They poured muddy water on Shedekar and forced him to walk through slush in public.
The court, after perusing the evidence on record, noted that the informant (victim) was holding a high post in the National Highway Authority.
"Despite that, he was made to walk through the muddy water in public. It would have certainly humiliated and insulted him," the court remarked.
The judge held that Rane compelling Shedekar to walk through the muddy water "was nothing but an intentional insult to the informant," and provocation which will cause him to break the public peace.
