UF steering panel meet to deliberate on Mumbai firing

MUMBAI, July 20: Desecration of Dr Ambedkar's statue in Mumbai on July 11 and the subsequent police firing that led to the death of 10 pers...

MUMBAI, July 20: Desecration of Dr Ambedkar’s statue in Mumbai on July 11 and the subsequent police firing that led to the death of 10 persons would be included in the agenda of the forthcoming United Front steering committee meeting, Janata Dal national general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Waseem Ahmed said today.

Ahmed, who visited Ramabai Nagar this afternoon, told reporters he would submit a report soon to Prime Minister I K Gujral and party president Sharad Yadav to apprise them about what he alleged was “deliberate entry of the police into Ramabai Nagar to shoot Dalits”.

He joined the demand made by Union Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan for dismissal of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government in Maharashtra for “failure to protect lives of Dalits and check a mob of Shiv Sainiks from ransacking the bungalow of Opposition leader Chhagan Bhujbal last Sunday”.

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“Why were Shiv Sainiks who attacked Bhujbal’s house not lathi-charged?”, he asked and demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident and the desecration episode.

Ahmed, the third JD leader after Paswan and Prof Madhu Dandavate to visit the city in the aftermath of the desecration incident, called on party activists on the fifth day of their relay hunger strike near Churchgate heredemanding dismissal of the State government.

The RJD’s key face and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Tejashwi Yadav, party supremo Lalu Yadav’s son, will again contest from his stronghold Raghopur.

Amid Mahagathbandhan crisis, RJD unveils list of 143, drops 36 MLAs, focuses on ‘M-Y’

Political Pulse4 hr ago

The RJD, lead player of the Mahagathbandhan, released its full list of 143 candidates for the November Bihar Assembly elections. Its key face Tejashwi Yadav will contest from Raghopur, and 41 sitting MLAs have been renominated. The party has dropped 36 sitting MLAs and fielded young leaders, signaling a bid to consolidate its core Muslim-Yadav vote base. The Congress has fielded 60 candidates.

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