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Chaotic scenes in Rajasthan Assembly

Special Correspondent

Over attack on Sports Minister Yunus Khan

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Assembly witnessed uproarious scenes on Tuesday over the previous day's attack on Sports, Youth Affairs and Transport Minister Yunus Khan, allegedly by a group of activists of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP. Opposition Congress members said it could not be treated an internal matter of the ruling party as safety and security of Ministers and MLAs was involved.

The issue came up before the start of the day's proceedings when Congress whip Zuber Khan expressed concern over the developments in which Mr. Khan, who had gone to Sawai Man Singh Stadium near the Assembly for his daily game of badminton, was intercepted by a group of alleged ABVP men led by one Rajendra Surpura.

Congress members B.D. Kalla, Pardhyumna Singh, C.P. Joshi, Harimohan Sharma and Ashok Bairwa who demanded a discussion on the issue said the matter was serious, as the attack on the Minister had taken place when the Assembly was in session. Speaker Sumitra Singh, who informed them that Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria would be making a statement on the issue in the House later, did not allow a discussion.

The noisy scenes continued for about 20 minutes during which Ms. Singh directed that the proceedings would not be recorded. Mr. Khan, the lone Muslim Minister in the Rajasthan Cabinet, was present at the time but did not make any comment. Two of his colleagues, Rajendra Singh Rathore and Vasudev Devnani, stood up to defend the Government but it led to further commotion only. In his statement, Mr. Kataria said two ABVP workers, including Rajendra Surpura, had been arrested in connection with the attack on the Minister. An FIR has been registered on the basis of a complaint from the Minister's gunman Anwar Khan and driver Jagdish Yadav under Sections 147, 149, 341, 323, 427,379,332, 353 of the IPC and under Section 3 PDPP Act, he informed.

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