Akhilesh Yadav's 'chanda' remark sparks uproar in House

New Delhi, Feb 9 Samajwadi Party leader and former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh yadav's 'chanda' remark caused uproar in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday evening.

Speaking on the thanks giving motion on the President's address, Yadav said the BJP has launched 'chanda yatra' and is colllecting huge funds from the people. "PM Modi is calling a few leaders 'aandolan jeevee' but what about 'chanda jeevee'...those who collect money from the people," the former CM said in an apparent reference to collection of chanda(contribution) for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Yadav's chanda remark caused uproar in the House as members from the treasury benches raised slogans against the SP leader and accused him of misleading the House. After his speech, Minister of State(MoS)for Rural Development, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said that contribution for Ram temple is pouring in from across the country. "People are contributing for construction of temple out of their sheer devotion. Its their aastha(faith) which has led to a huge collection. Even several ministers including myself have given chanda, " clarified MoS Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti.

Earlier Yadav had raised the issue of MSP and alleged that the Yogi Government in UP had backed out from paying farmers the minimum support price for their crops.

The SP president said that Prime Minister, Defence Minister and several top leaders of the ruling party represent UP but still farmers in the state are being deprived of MSP. Even in the PM's constituency the plight of farmers requires attention but Yogi government seems insensitive towards the anndata(farmers).

On the controversial farm laws, Yadav said that all three laws favour corporate houses and ignore basic interest of the farmers. "It seems that the Modi government has rolled out the red carpet for corporate houses while deliberately ignoring lakhs of farmers agitating against these black laws on the borders of the national capital since the past several months. The government must speak with the peasants and resolve the issue," added Yadav.

( With inputs from IANS )