BJP alleges illegal coal trade thriving under Jharkhand govt
Ranchi (PTI): Jharkhand BJP president Aditya Sahu on Friday alleged that illegal coal trade was flourishing in the state under the patronage of the JMM-led government.
Addressing reporters at the party office here, Sahu claimed that police station in-charges and district administrations in areas where illegal coal trading was taking place were involved and being protected by the state government.
He said Jharkhand did not belong to any party or family but to its 3.5 crore people.
Sahu was responding to Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s remarks made at a programme in Koderma on Thursday that the mineral-rich state contributed to the country’s development with coal, iron, mica and other resources but remained backward, forcing its people to live in poverty.
The BJP leader said if Jharkhand provided coal, other states contributed other resources and such an exchange would continue.
He demanded that the chief minister should explain what his government had done over the last six years, claiming that only false promises had been made to the people.
Rejecting Sahu's allegations, the Congress, an alliance partner of the JMM-led government in the state, said before pointing fingers at others, BJP leaders should introspect themselves.
"How the BJP has suddenly become so concerned about traders, when during their own rule, the state's resources were openly looted and illegal coal trade received political patronage. Even today, BJP MPs and leaders' names continue to surface in coal trade matters. The BJP leadership should first answer for this," Satish Paul Munjani, Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee media chairman, alleged.
He added that the allegations leveled by the BJP state president against Hemant Soren are nothing but political desperation.
"The Congress and the state government are committed to Jharkhand's development. Each and every misinformation by the BJP will be countered," Munjani said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Women BJP MLAs protest against opposition in UP assembly premises
Lucknow (PTI): Women BJP MLAs held a protest in the Vidhan Bhawan complex before the one-day special session of Uttar Pradesh assembly, slamming the opposition for defeating the passage of a bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Law, in the Lok Sabha.
This followed another demonstration by Samajwadi Party MLAs, who alleged that the BJP was misleading public in the name of women's reservation.
The women BJP legislators assembled in front of Chaudhary Charan Singh's statue in the assembly premises, holding banners inscribed with the slogan "Insult to Matrushakti (women's power), India will not tolerate it". The protesting members entered the main hall of Vidhan Bhawan carrying the banners.
Participating in the protest, the state Minister for Women Welfare and Child Development, Baby Rani Maurya, told reporters that all opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, had opposed the women's reservation, a stance for which they would have to pay a heavy political price.
"On this issue, all of us women stand united. We will ensure that we secure our reservation," she said.
BJP MLA Ketki Singh remarked that their protest represents the collective outrage of millions of women across the state.
Singh asserted that the opposition has betrayed women by creating hurdles in the path of women's reservation. The current demonstration is merely the beginning, and very soon, women from every street, intersection and household will join the protest movement, she said.
Minister Vijaylakshmi Gautam said, "We strongly condemn the despicable act committed by the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in an attempt to hold back 'half the population' (women). Their action was directed against the very bill that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had introduced to empower and strengthen Nari Shakti (women's power), and which he strived to pass expeditiously."
Uttar Pradesh assembly is holding a one-day special session on Thursday. During the session, the government is set to move a censure motion against the opposition parties over their failure to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Act, in the Lok Sabha.
