Attacks on North Indians: Five JD(U) MPs resign from Lok Sabha

New Delhi, Nov 7 (UNI) Five JD(U) Members of Parliament today resigned from the Lok Sabha protesting against the continued attacks on North Indians in Maharashtra, particularly Mumbai.

The MPs, led by NDA convener and former JD(U) president George Fernandes, went to Parliament House at around 1200 hrs and submitted their resignations to Lok Sabha Secretary-General P D Achary in the absence of Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who was undergoing treatment for chest congestion at the Army Research and Referral Hospital where he was admitted on November 5.

The resignations followed JD(U) President Sharad Yadav's announcement recently at a press conference here that all the five JD(U) MPs would resign from the Lok Sabha after 'Chhat Puja' on November 5.

The resignations would also put pressure on the Rashtriya Janata Dal of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and the Lok Janshakti party of Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, for both parties are in the government.

Besides Mr Fernandes, other MPs are Rajiv Ranjan alias Lallan Singh, JD(U) Parliamentary Party leader Prabhunath Singh, Mrs Meena Singh, wife of MP Ajit Singh and Mr Kailash.

The decision on the resignations is expected to be taken only after the Speaker rejoins office after recuperating.

... Talking to newspersons after submitting the resignation, Mr Prabhunath Singh said an all-party delegation led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on October 27 to express their concern over the repeated attacks on North Indians in Maharashtra.

The delegation, he said, had also handed over a memorandum to the Prime Minister, urging strong action against those responsible for such attacks.

He regretted that till date no action had been taken against the guilty and they had been left with no option but to resign from Parliament.

UNI