Samajwadi Party MPs demonstrate near Parliament against Manikarnika Ghat renovation plan

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party MPs on Tuesday staged a protest in the Lok Sabha and outside Parliament against the ongoing redevelopment of Manikarnika ghat in Varanasi and alleged that it amounted to an insult to the legacy of Ahilyabai Holkar, the 18th century queen of the Malwa kingdom who first renovated the Manikarnika Ghat in 1791.

SP MPs, holding placards with photos of Ahilyabai Holkar, staged a protest in the Lok Sabha, when Congress MPs were trying to rally a protest on the row over Rahul Gandhi's speech and on the Indo-US trade deal. The Opposition circles see in the SP agitation, besides raising an UP issue, a pattern in which the party is trying to present an independent course vis-a-vis Congress, a trend that became more visible after Congress-RJD defeat in Bihar polls.