UP assembly session begins, legislative council adjourned for day amid din

The winter session of the Uttar Pradesh assembly began here on Thursday, even as opposition din in the Legislative Council made its Chairman adjourn the upper house of the state legislature for the day.

At the start of the council session, Samajwadi Party (SP) members raised anti- government slogans and protested against the power tariff hike which they dubbed as "steep".

Demanding a rollback, the SP members said they will not let the house function till their demand was met.

Calling the hike of 12 per cent a blow to farmers, the poor, and the middle class, SP MLCs accused Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of being "anti-poor and cheating people".

As SP members refused to pay heed to calm down, Legislative Council Chairman Ramesh Yadav first adjourned the house till noon and later till Friday.

Power Minister Shrikant Sharma denied opposition charges and said the previous SP government had left the state's power sector in chaos. The Bharatiya Janata Party government was only trying to set things right and ensure adequate power to both villages and cities, the Minister said.

The winter session of the 17th Vidhan Sabha will continue till December 22.

Apart from a bill to enact the Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act, the government is likely to present the state's supplementary budget during the session.

The opposition is likely to try and put the government on the mat on loan waiver for farmers, law and order, power tariff increase, price rise and civic body election bunglings.

--IANS

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