Congress to boycott deputy speaker's election in UP

Lucknow, Oct 18: Congress has decided to boycott the poll of deputy speaker accusing the BJP of diverting the people's attention from various problems in Uttar Pradesh while also alleging that it is having a friendly fight with the Samajwadi Party.

"Neither the BJP nor the Samajwadi Party want to ensure justice for farmers killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence or to discuss this important issue. They are into a 'noora kushti' (friendly fight) and so we are boycotting the deputy speaker's election and sitting on a dharna," UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu told PTI.

He said that the election is being conducted to divert the attention of the people from the recent Lakhimpur Kheri incident. He claimed that Congress will fight till Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra is sacked.

The election is scheduled to be held on Monday.

"The people of Uttar Pradesh are seeing for themselves as to how the farmers were killed and they did not get justice. The minister has not yet been dismissed. While the son was arrested, the father continues to hold his position. What kind of justice is this. Will the official who goes there for investigating the matter salute the minister or ensure fair probe," Lallu asked.

Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra is prime accused in the Lakhimpur incident which killed eight, including four farmers.

Nitin Agarwal is set to be the deputy speaker of the Uttar Pradesh assembly. He had become MLA from the SP ticket but got closer with the BJP.

This development irked the SP, which has now fielded Narendra Verma as its official candidate for the contest. The party has slammed the BJP for trying to sabotage democracy stating that the post should traditionally go to the opposition party.

Uttar Pradesh is set to get its first Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly after a gap of over 14 years on Monday.

Yogi Adityanath's government won 304 seats out in the 403-member UP Legislative Assembly in 2017.