Cong demands special Gujarat Assembly session on Patel quota stir

The Congress in Gujarat has demanded a special session of Assembly to discuss a host of issues, including state government’s failure to withdraw police cases against youngsters who participated in the Patel quota stir.

The BJP had promised in the runup to the 2017 Assembly elections that it would withdraw all the cases against those associated with Patel quota stir, except its leaders, including Hardik Patel, who has been booked under Sedition.

In a letter to Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, the leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani asked, why no action was initiated against the police personnel who had perpetrated inhuman action against the Patidaars during the 2015 quota stir.

Nearly a dozen people were killed in the violence that broke out after police action in Ahmedabad.

Dhanani’s demand comes in the wake of recently held Nyay Mahapanchayat in Malvan town of Surendranagar district, where Patel quota stir members asked the Congress to call for a special session of Assembly to discuss issue of quotas in government jobs and educational institutions, as well as the BJP’s “unkempt” promises with regards to quota agitation.

Dhanani has also raised the issues of "exorbitant" fees charged by private schools despite the Fee Regulation Act brought in by the BJP government before the Assembly polls. “After the polls, the education minister said fees (set by these schools) will have to be paid," Dhanani said.

Other than the Patel quota stir and fee issue, Dhanani has also sought discussion on the water situation in the state, procurement of agriproducts from farmers and its pricing, cases of atrocities on Dalits and issue of the vicious spiral of prices due to the rise in petrol and diesel prices.