BJP asks President Mukherjee to impose President's rule in UP

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh met with President Pranab Mukherjee in the national capital on Sunday, and asked him to impose President's rule in Uttar Pradesh in light of the recent communal riots that struck Muzaffarnagar.

" We met the President and informed him about the complete lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh," Singh said.

"We also told him (President Mukherjee) that in Uttar Pradesh there is a state of emergency and that President's rule must be imposed (there)," he added.

The BJP President also demanded that a Supreme Court monitored investigation into the communal riots is conducted to determine the perpetrators of the violence so that justice prevails in the case.

"We have demanded that a SC monitored investigation be carried out in Muzaffarnagar violence issue," Singh said.

On Saturday, a local court in Muzaffarnagar sent arrested Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Suresh Rana to 14 days of judicial custody for allegedly delivering an inflammatory speech that led to communal riots in Uttar Pradesh.

"There was no evidence available with the public prosecutor against Suresh Rana. He has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days. We have already introduced the bail application in the court," Rana's lawyer Dushyant Singh said.

Earlier on Saturday, BJP MLA Sangeet Som and BSP MLA Noor Salim Rana were also arrested by the police.

The Uttar Pradesh Government on Friday arrested Suresh Rana who is accused of inciting tension in Muzaffarnagar, which claimed the lives of atleast 40 people.

Rana, however, denied making any controversial speech, and alleged that it's a conspiracy by the Uttar Pradesh Government to target BJP leaders.

The State Government has constituted a one-member judicial commission to probe the Muzaffarnagar violence, which has claimed over 40 lives.

The commission, which would mainly look into administrative lapses, if any, in controlling the violence, would submit its report to the government within two months.

Violence broke out in the Kawal area of Muzaffarnagar on August 27, when members of a community returning from a panchayat meeting in Naglabadhod, three kilometres from Kawal, clashed with members of another community.