The Lakhimpur Kheri case will be in the spotlight on Tuesday when the Supreme Court takes up a plea challenging bail for Ashish Misra, the son of Union Minister Ajay Misra.
Ashish is accused of running over eight people in Lakhimpur Kheri in October last year. The victims were protesting against the contentious farm laws, which were subsequently withdrawn by the Narendra Modi government. Ashish had got bail in February.
At the time, there were demands that Ajay Misra resign as minister of state for home affairs for allegedly attempting to shield his son. On Monday, Ajay Misra remained defiant despite the case against his son.
Misra told news agency ANI he had been confident the Yogi Adityanath government would return to power. He said “Had been saying from beginning that the manner in which Central and state governments are working under the leadership of PM Modi and CM Yogi [Adityanath], we'll form the government again with majority. Had the law and order (in UP) not been good, we wouldn't have received the majority.”
Misra declared "BJP had been working for the welfare of the people and we were confident of forming the government for the second consecutive term in UP.”
The outrage over the Lakhimpur Kheri case appeared to have had no adverse impact on the BJP in the recent assembly polls as the party won all eight seats in the district.
