Lucknow, Aug 18 (PTI) The entire Question Hour was washed out in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday as opposition Samajwadi Party and Congress members trooped into the well of the House on the issue of price rise.

However, after the presentation of the supplementary budget, SP and Congress leaders spoke on price rise.

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As soon as the House assembled at 11 am, members of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress stormed into the well of the House and started raising slogans against the government.

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Ram Govind Choudhary said, "Inflation has skyrocketed and the public is feeling harassed due to soaring prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas".

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As soon as Choudhary said this, the SP members trooped into the Well of the House and raised slogans.

Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit said, "The state government has nothing to do with inflation. If your 'rangarang karyakram' (variety programme) is over, then let the House function."

However, the opposition members continued to raise slogans, leading to the adjournment of the proceedings for 40 minutes, which was later extended for the entire Question Hour till 12.20 pm by the Speaker.

Later, after the presentation of the supplementary budget, the Samajwadi Party and the Congress sought to draw the attention of the government towards the issue.

Ram Govind Choudhary and leader of Congress Legislature Party Aradhana Misra urged a discussion on this while seeking to adjourn proceedings of the House.

Choudhary said, "There is terrible and fatal inflation in the BJP government and everything has become expensive. Only the lives of the public are cheap. There is huge anger in the public due to inflation and this can assume a disastrous proportion. Hence, the House must stop all business and discuss this issue."

Aradhana Misra said, "In the BJP rule, if there is anything, whose development has taken place, it is inflation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people were forced to buy wood for funerals at 10 times the price."

Replying to the statements made by the opposition leaders, UP Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi said, "During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has provided free medical treatment to all patients. As far as prices of petrol and diesel are concerned, these are governed by the international market.”

“Prices of petrol and diesel in Uttar Pradesh are less than Jaipur (Rajasthan), Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh," he said.

He termed the demand of the opposition leaders as baseless and urged the Speaker not accept their demands for an adjournment.

Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit rejected the demand of the opposition leaders to hold a discussion while adjourning the proceedings of the House, following which the SP and the Congress members staged a walkout from the House.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)