Union Minister Smriti Irani on Friday slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the widespread violence in the state during Ram Navami. Irani accused the West Bengal CM of giving clean chit to the accused who disrupted the Ram Navami celebrations in the state.

Irani in her statement said that the organisers of the Ram Navami procession asked for permission for the procession to happen. The Union Minister of Child and Woman development further said that a request was also sought for protection as a 100-meter stretch was likely to be attacked by stone pelting.

Union Minister Smriti Irani said that despite of the appeal of protection by the people taking out the Ram Navami procession, the administration failed to provide protection. Irani further said and claimed that the West Bengal Government protected those who took law into their own hands, as well as, the ones who attacked the procession by pelting stones.

She further lambasted the Chief Minister of West Bengal and slammed her for targeting the ones who took out the procession during Ram Navami instead of the real culprits. The Union Minister, in her scathing attack on the West Bengal Government, also accused WB CM of giving a clean chit to the real culprits

Irani in her statement also added and said that this is not the first time where people of the Hindu community were attacked and raked up previous accounts of people getting attacked last year during Lakshmi Puja.

BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah seeking an intervention of Central forces to stop the repression in Howrah. The BJP MP has sought NIA’s probe into the cause of the riot.

Parts of West Bengal saw violence on the occasion of Ram Navami. Following the violence, the West Bengal government gave the investigation over to Criminal Investigation Department (CID). As per the reports, the inspector General of CID, Sunil Choudhury has initiated the investigation into the case.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has hit back at the allegations leveled by Home Minister Amit Shah and challenged him to name the CBI officials involved in pressuring him to frame his party colleague and then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in a fake encounter case.

Gehlot, while speaking to the media, said that if Delhi Police can ask for the details of the alleged sexual assault victims in Jammu and Kashmir from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, then the police can do the same and ask for the names of the CBI officers who allegedly pressurized Shah to frame Modi.

Gehlot spoke to the media and slammed the Police for reaching the house of Rahul Gandhi, following the notice, even though the Congress leader had said that he will respond to the notice. Rajasthan CM also asked if Delhi Police will treat Amit Shah’s claims the same way it did to Rahul Gandhi’s claims and question Home Minister.

Rajasthan CM was referring to the questioning done by Delhi police on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after he claimed that during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, he claimed to have met women who were allegedly still getting sexually assaulted in the Union Territory. Following the claims by the Congress leader and more than a month after the conclusion of Bharat Jodo Yatra, Delhi police served notice to the Congress leader and arrived at his residence to question him on it.

CM Ashok Gehlot’s challenge to Union Home Minister Amit Shah comes after he spoke to the media in a Media conclave and leveled that the CBI had pressured him to frame the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in a fake encounter case. At the time, UPA was in power, highlighted the home minister.

Home Minister Amit Shah’s claims came as a counter to the Opposition that has alleged misuse of central agencies against the Opposition Parties for political benefits and dubbed it to be vendetta politics.

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday disqualified JD(S) MLA D C Gowrishankar Swamy for electoral malpractice, however, the Tumakuru Rural constituency legislator’s suspension was kept in suspension for one month to allow Swamy to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.

Swamy was disqualified under Section 101 of the The Representation of the People Act by a single-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court which was delivering a verdict on a petition filed by BJP leader B Suresh Gowda, five years ago, accusing the JD(S) legislator of distributing fake insurance bonds to voters during the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election.

Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav dictated the orders on Thursday from the Kalaburagi bench of the Karnataka High Court. Justice Yadav had earlier reserved the judgment after completion of arguments on February 17.

Advocate Hemanth Raj, who represented Swamy, sought the suspension of the order as per Section 116(B) of the Act to allow him to file an appeal before the Supreme Court, as elections to the Karnataka Assembly had already been announced.

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Advocate Raj told the court that Swamy was planning to contest the upcoming polls and hence must be given time for an appeal. Gowda’s counsel opposed the request, but was turned down by the High Court, who suspended Swamy’s suspension, allowing the lawmaker time to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.

The other accused in the case—Balanetraiah, Arehalli Manjunath, Krishnegowda, Renukamma and Sunanda—were also convicted of election malpractices, however, the suspension of the order was only in respect of Swamy and not the other accused.

In his petition, BJP’s B Suresh Gowda, had claimed that Swamy and his accomplices violated Section 123 of The Representation People Act by allegedly distributed fake insurance bonds to 32,000 adults and 16,000 minors, after the Model Code of Conduct came into force on March 27, 2018.

Gowda, who lost the last election to Swamy, had approached the high court with his plea in July 2018.

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