A day before the monsoon session of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mohammad Azam Khan skipped the all-party and Business Advisory Committee meetings, drawing criticism from the Opposition parties.
The Bharatiya Janata Party had already boycotted the all-party meet convened by Assembly Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey.
BJP state unit president laxmikant Bajpai said when the Chief Minister and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister were not attending the meeting there was no need to hold it. “So we decided not to attend the meeting,” Bajpai said.
It was the first time that the Parliamentary Affairs Minister was absent in these meetings.leader of Opposition and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya told reporters that such a callous attitude of the ruling party leaders showed that the Chief Minister and Parliamentary Affairs Minister had no faith in democracy.
Both the meetings were called on behalf of the Speaker.Khan, who is reportedly angry with the Chief Minister for the way the Muzaffarnagar riots were handled by the Government, stayed put in Rampur. There, he told reporters that the Government was ready to face the Opposition in the House.
On the other hand, Akhilesh Yadav was in Muzaffarnagar, where he visited the riot-hit areas.In the Business Advisory Committee meeting, the Opposition leaders demanded extension of the sitting of the House from the present four days.