By IANS,
Ranchi: The proceedings of the Jharkhand assembly were disrupted Thursday over the arrest of former chief minister and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) president Babulal Marandi.
Marandi was arrested late Wednesday from Silli, situated on the outskirts of Ranchi, while enforcing his party’s two-day economic blockade in which party workers disrupted the road and railway services in the state.
JVM-P legislature party leader Pradeep Yadav and some 200 supporters were also arrested. They have been kept in Ranchi’s Angada police station.
The economic blockade was called by the party to demand that the entire state be declared famine hit.
When the house proceedings began at 11 a.m., JVM-P legislators came near the speaker’s podium, seeking release of their leader. The Congress also backed the JVM-P demand. The speaker had to adjourn the house till noon.
“Our leaders have been arrested to suppress the agitation. We are raising the issue of drought, drinking water for a long period of time. Our leaders are not provided basic facilities in the police station. The charges against our leaders are not known,” Nirbhay Sahbadi, a JVM-P legislator, told reporters.
The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Bharatiya Janata Party have termed the economic blockade a “drama”.