The party members also protested against the improper handling of the coronavirus pandemic in UP
Main opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) in the Uttar Pradesh assembly on Thursday staged a protest at the Vidhan Bhawan against the alleged worsening of law and order situation and improper handling of the coronavirus pandemic in the state.
During the protest, held before the start of the UP legislature's brief session, the SP members stopped UP Health minister Jai Pratap Singh and asked him to focus on dealing with the coronavirus crisis.
SP MLAs and MLCs were protesting at the statue of former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh at the assembly building around 9.30 am.
As UP Health Minister Mr Singh arrived around the same time, SP MLA Irfan Solanki from Kanpur's Sisamau and a few others stopped the minister and drew his attention towards the COVID-19 infection.
Mr Solanki later told PTI that he complained to the health minister that no tests for COVID-19 were being conducted in Kanpur and the people there had to go to private laboratories for it, incurring a huge cost on tests.
SP MLAs and MLCs were protesting at the statue of former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh at the assembly building around 9.30 am.
Mr Solanki said the minister assured the legislators that he would personally go to Kanpur to inspect the situation and take necessary action.
Speaking on the occasion, Member of the Legislative Council Naresh Uttam alleged that there was "a jungle raj" prevailing in the state.
Incidents like murder, loot, rape and kidnapping are taking place daily and it appears that criminals have no fear of law, he said.
The Yogi government has also totally failed in checking the COVID-19 pandemic, alleged Uttam adding that in the name of the fight against the disease, funds are being misused.
Another MLC Anand Bhadoria alleged that bad law and order has added to the people's woes amid the pandemic.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav later said the government needs to answer people's queries on various issues like unemployment and the law and order situation.
"This session of the UP Legislative Assembly is going to be historic in several ways. The government has to answer questions raised by the Opposition and its own people on coronavirus, unemployment, casteist atrocities and poor law and order," Mr Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi.
"The government's encounter policy too has become a point of internal discord," he claimed.