RJD MLA wears garland of onions to protest price rise, calls for action

As onion prices touched Rs 100 a kg in some parts of the country, an MLA of the Opposition RJD in Bihar turned up in the Assembly wearing a garland of onion bulbs on Wednesday. Raja Pakar (Vaishali) MLA Shiv Chandra Ram raised slogans and attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his “empty promises” of setting up stalls where onions were supposed to be sold at Rs 35 per kg. He said his protest was aimed to "compel the CM to take some serious action". Earlier this month, some of his Congress counterparts in Delhi had worn onion garlands as a mark of protest against the state government over the issue of increasing onion prices. They were protesting in front of the state secretariat.

Turmoil continues

The turmoil in the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress party refuses to die down. Now Raebareli MLA Aditi Singh (pictured) is in the line of fire. The party moved a petition in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly seeking her disqualification. She had been served a show-cause notice after she defied the party whip and attended the special session of the Vidhan Sabha on October 2. But she failed to offer a response, said Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Misra. Earlier on Sunday, the party expelled 10 senior leaders for opposing the state unit leadership at a public forum and “tarnishing the party’s image”.

Philippines can wait

Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma (pictured), who was scheduled to visit the Philippines during November 25-28, has had to shelve his travel plans after the foreign ministry failed to clear his tour. Although the UP deputy CM had applied for permission three days before his scheduled departure, the approval could not come on time. Such applications are routed from the Union home ministry to the foreign ministry; the requisite nod in this case could not be processed as External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar dashed off to Colombo on an unscheduled visit last week ahead of his of trip to Japan.