Madhya Pradesh: Congress MLAs end first phase of protest

Congress legislators who had squatted in the well of the Madhya Pradesh assembly, seeking adequate compensation for crop damages and waiver on loan interest to farmers, ended their protest on the fourth day on Friday.

While calling off what they called the first phase of their protest, the legislators said they will go back to their respective constituencies and raise the issue of injustice to farmers in the second phase.

AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh offered a glass of juice each to those legislators who were fasting since Thursday. Singh, who was denied permission to hold a press conference in the assembly premises on Tuesday, was allowed entry on Friday to end the protest.

The former MP chief minister claimed that the Congress legislators decided to leave the assembly premises on a request made by AICC president Sonia Gandhi and other senior leaders who were monitoring the developments from Delhi.

The assembly secretariat had given a notice late on Thursday to Leader of Opposition Satyadev Katare asking him to end the protest. The notice said the protest was unlawful because the assembly session was already over.

Assembly speaker Sitasharan Sharma who had already left for his constituency had accused the Congress of using the premises for a political activity. The secretariat had told the protesting legislators that in view of the ensuing holidays the assembly premises would be looked after only by the security personnel.

Source:: Indian Express