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Bedlam over farmers’ issue

JAIPUR: Even as the opposition Congress organised a massive protest rally outside the Rajasthan Assembly, the leaders of the party clashed with the treasury bench members inside the House on Tuesday on the issue of farmers’ distress, forcing repeated adjournments.

Congress whip Zubair Khan raised the matter during Zero Hour, saying the farmers were not getting sufficient water and power for their standing crops and the BJP-led government had failed to give them compensation for losses during the recent chilly weather.

When other Congress members and the lone Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA, Amra Ram, joined Mr. Khan, the BJP members retaliated by shouting anti-Congress slogans and did not allow the Opposition members to speak on the adjournment motion.

Amid uproar in the House, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore was seen leading the treasury members in raising slogans against the Congress. Some other ministers also joined the BJP members in their protest against the charges levelled by the Opposition.

When the Congress members shouting anti-BJP slogans trooped into the well of the House and refused to go back to their seats, Deputy Speaker Ramnarain Bishnoi adjourned the House thrice. The Assembly was adjourned a fourth time when the Congress MLAs demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged land deals in the border district of Barmer.

Earlier, Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said while replying to a question that a special police force would be constituted to deal with the cases of vehicle theft. He said as many as 14,000 police personnel had been recruited during the BJP-led government’s tenure so far.

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