Khanna: No involvement of state govt,its machinery in Fatehpur incident

Time of India

5 days ago

Lucknow: Responding to the Opposition's allegations over the Monday's Fatehpur incident, finance and parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Khanna on Tuesday told the state assembly that neither the govt nor any part of its administrative machinery was involved.
Dismissing allegations as "completely unfounded," he asserted that the state was committed to maintaining law and order and anyone taking the law into their own hands would face strict punishment.
Khanna emphasised that the FIR itself showed the govt was acting promptly. "The law is doing its work, and anyone attempting to bypass it will face due judicial process," he stated, adding that maintaining law and order under all circumstances was the govt's top priority.
He also suggested that the opposition was trying to give the incident a political colour, while police acted swiftly to initiate proceedings without delay.
"The govt has reinforced police presence in the region with personnel from 10 police stations, two companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), and the full administrative apparatus deployed. A total of 160 people, including the 10 named accused, have been booked.
Authorities are engaging both sides in dialogue to restore calm, with action to follow once the situation stabilises," he said later.
Earlier, SP members jumped into the well of the House immediately after the Question Hour got over and resorted to sloganeering and vociferous protest alleging inaction by the government over Fatehpur incident. Otherwise smoothly running House saw pandemonium as leader of opposition Mata Prasad Pandey while raising the issue alleged that the incident at Fatehpur took place at the behest of some BJP leaders.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was also present when the SP members expressed dissatisfaction over Khanna's reply, and started protesting. Speaker Satish Mahana while trying to pacify the agitating SP members urged them to get back to their seats as he was ready to hold discussion on the issue. He said that despite the fact that he was ready to give opportunity to the SP members to speak on the issue, they were are reluctant.
"The Opposition seems not ready to listen to the answer that the government will give on the issue," the Speaker said.
Despite regular requests by the Speaker, the SP members stayed put in the well, resorting to sloganeering. Unable to pacify the agitating members and amid prevailing din, the Speaker directed the members to rush through the day's proceedings.
Even as the protest by the SP members went on for around one hour, Mahana repeatedly maintained that he was ready to hold a discussion on the issue during the adjournment motion as one of the SP members had already given the notice on the issue.
Assuming that the discussion would take place immediately, the SP members went back to their seats.
SP chief whip Kamal Akhtar stood up and said that the mausoleum existed on the land for over 100 years, yet there were efforts to raze it. Intervening, the Speaker said that the matter would be taken up later during the adjournment motion.
The SP members, however, demanded that the adjournment motion be taken up on priority basis and again jumped into the well.
The Speaker, meanwhile, asked the treasury benches to carry forward with the day's proceedings.
Interestingly, even after the day's business got over, the Speaker urged the SP members to get back to their seats and hold a discussion on the issue and allow the government to give an answer. However, the unrelenting SP MLAs stayed put, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House until 11 am Wednesday morning.
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