Bhopal, January 1: A day after Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo threatened to pull-out of the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh, the newly-elected regime led by Kamal Nath has given into her demands. The state has agreed to order the withdrawal of cases filed against SC/ST activists for law and order violations during the Bharat Bandh on April 2, 2018.
Madhya Pradesh Law Minister PC Sharma, after a meeting with Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday, told reporters that all the cases levelled against the activists of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes for their participation in "such protests" over the last 15 years will be withdrawn. Akhilesh Yadav-Mayawati Alliance: Very Soon It Will Be in Front of You, Says Samajwadi Chief.
PC Sharma, Madhya Pradesh Law Minister: Cases filed on 2nd April 2018 ('Bharat Band' over SC/ST Act 1989) or similar cases in the last 15 years filed by the BJP will be withdrawn. pic.twitter.com/QGI6tUQhjk
— ANI (@ANI) January 1, 2019
In a statement which was likely to unnerve the Congress' leadership, the BSP on Monday said, ""We demand that cases filed by the then BJP government in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan during the 'Bharat band' held on 2nd April, 2018 for SC/ST Act 1989 and reservation in promotion of government workers to be withdrawn. If these demands are not met, we'll reconsider our decision to give outside support to Congress."
On December 12, Mayawati-led party extended its support to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to help the party form the government in both states.
In the 230-member strong Legislative Assembly of Madhya Pradesh, BJP -- that ruled the state for 15 years, trailed marginally at 109, while the Samajwadi Party (SP) won 1 seat and Mayawati's BSP bagged two seats. On the other hand, Independents won four seats all over the state.
Meanwhile, in the 199-seat Assembly of Rajasthan, the Congress again bagged 99 seats to dethrone the Vasundhara Raje led BJP which won 73 seats. The CPI-M won two seats, BSP six, Independents 13 and others six.
(With ANI inputs)
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 01, 2019 04:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).