BJP stages protest in Aurangabad against suspension of 12 MLAs

BJP MLA Ram Satpute was among the 12 suspended MLAs. Pic/PTI

BJP workers in Aurangabad in Maharashtra on Tuesday held a protest over the suspension of 12 MLAs of the party from the Legislative Assembly for alleged misbehaviour a day earlier.

After holding the agitation at the district collectorate, a memorandum was handed over to authorities.

"The BJP has exposed the present government on the issues of OBCs losing political reservation in local bodies and Marathas being deprived of quota in jobs and education. The suspension of the 12 MLAs was nothing but a murder of democracy," an office-bearer of BJP's OBC cell told reporters.

A former mayor said the MVA government was not keen to restore reservations to Marathas and OBCs, and suspended the 12 MLAs to suppress the voice of the BJP over a state proposal seeking empirical data on OBCs from the 2011 Census.

On Monday, 12 MLAs of the BJP were suspended from the Assembly for one year after the state government accused them of "misbehaving" with presiding officer Bhaskar Jadhav in the Speaker's chamber.

Senior BJP leaders and the MLAs had denied the allegations against them.

Also read: Mumbai: BJP holds mock session outside Assembly against suspension of 12 MLAs