Question hour in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly was stalled entirely on Monday by the Samajwadi Party on the issue of alleged threats to the party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
The move came as soon as the House met for the day, and Leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary raised the issue demanding the immediate discussion on the matter. The leader’s demand was disallowed by the Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit.
Reacting on the Speaker’s response, the leaders of Samajwadi Party raised slogans after which the house proceedings were injured.
A few days ago while addressing a function at his party office in Kannauj, Akhilesh Yadav had claimed that he received a threat call and a message from a BJP leader. He said these calls started coming after a youth shouted ‘Jai Shri Ram’ at one of the gatherings he was addressing.
“There is a threat to my life from a BJP leader. I have received a threat call and a message from him. I have saved the message in my phone and will address the media soon,” he had said at the function.
The issue was again popped up by the SP leader when the house reassembled by saying that the security of SP president was a matter of concern.
“The BJP is afraid of his growing popularity and some BJP supporters are giving him threats. The Supreme Court has also spoken on the issue of criminalisation of politics and if any harm comes to Akhilesh Yadav, SP workers will not remain quiet,” he said.
On Chaudhary’s claims, Parliamentary Affairs minister Suresh Khanna said that 182 security personnel had been deployed for security of the SP chief and the incident of a man shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ was being deliberately blown up by the SP leaders.