NEWS

Leader of opposition in the Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, filed a writ petition in the Calcutta high court on Monday urging for disqualification of Mukul Roy as MLA under the anti-defection law.

Adhikari prayed for an interim direction of the HC to speaker Biman Banerjee, asking him to decide on the matter within a week. Roy, a BJP MLA from Krishnanagar North, joined Trinamool on June 11. “It has been over three months that Mukul Roy defected to TMC. The speaker is not taking note of the defection yet and not disqualifying him as MLA,” he said.

Agrasain Gehlot, elder brother of Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here almost a year after a money laundering investigation was initiated against him for allegedly receiving ‘proceeds of crime’ from a fertiliser export scam worth over Rs 130 crore.

According to a preliminary probe, Agrasain’s firm Anupam Krishi, in league with Saraf Impex Pvt Ltd, was engaged in alleged illegal export of potash. Anupam Krishi was the origin of the exports made by Saraf Impex. The total volume of illegal exports of MOP (muriate of potash) was around 30,000 tonnes, worth Rs 130 crore. Agrasain is accused of receiving a huge commission, according to the showcause notice issued by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) that had earlier probed the case and filed a prosecution complaint (chargesheet). The ED case is based on the DRI chargesheet.

BSP president Mayawati, who extended support to a peaceful Bharat Bandh called by farmers against the Centre's three farm laws, alleged that the Uttar Pradesh government increased cane support prices ahead of the assembly elections for "selfish" motives.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief on Monday termed the cabinet expansion of the Yogi Adityanath government in the state an effort to mobilise voters on the basis of caste and warned the electorate against such designs. Notably, CM Adityanath announced a hike of Rs 25 per quintal in the purchase prices of sugarcane in the state on Sunday, a day ahead of a Bharat Bandh called by farmer unions.

The BSP chief tweeted (in Hindi), "The UP BJP government kept ignoring the farmers here for four and a half years and did not increase the support price of sugarcane, which I had pointed out during a conference of the enlightened classes in Lucknow on September 7. Now they have remembered sugarcane farmers just before elections which only shows their selfishness."

Reiterating his demand for a countrywide caste Census, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Sunday said it is the need of the hour and the Centre should reconsider its decision against it.

“Caste Census is in the interest of the country,” he said. The Centre, in an affidavit in the Supreme Court recently, virtually ruled out holding a caste census. Nitish said the matter in the apex court was was not directly related to the caste census. “It is related to the socio-economic caste Census of 2011,” he pointed out.

Talking to reporters after participating in a review meeting on left wing extremism with Union home minister Amit Shah at Delhi, Nitish said caste Census is pro-development and it will help policymakers frame targeted welfare policies for the backward castes.