Congressmen try to gherao Gujarat Assembly, detained

Hundreds of Congress workers and several party legislators were arrested when they tried to gherao the Gujarat Assembly that began its two-day monsoon session on Tuesday.

The rallyists were demanding farm debt waiver and action against the guilty in the Rs 4,000-crore groundnut purchase scam, among other things.

The opposition party supporters were also protesting against the ruling BJP's "tendency to run away from key issues by limiting the Assembly session to make it a farce", just to meet constitutional obligations.

"The Bharatiya Janata Party is running away from discussion on key public issues. Gujarat is the only state to have a two-day session, which shows that the ruling party is not interested in public welfare or in democracy," Congress leader Rajeev Satav said.

The Congress is demanding a 25-day monsoon session.

Satav, who is party General Secretary in charge of Gujarat affairs, state Congress president Amit Chavda and several MLAs and former MPs were detained.

The Assembly will transact business only on Wednesday as it was adjourned on the first day on Tuesday after the members condoled the death of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and eight former legislators.

It is the second session of the 14th Gujarat Assembly after the December 2017 elections. The Budget session was held in February.

--IANS

desai/tsb/bg