LUCKNOW: Taking cognisance of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait’s warning, the management of two sugar mills in Lakhimpur Kheri excluded Union minister of state Ajay Mishra Teni from the inauguration of sugarcane crushing season on Wednesday.
Tikait, at the Kisan Mahapanchayat in Lucknow on Monday, had warned that farmers would take their sugarcane meant for the two mills to the office of the district magistrate if Teni inaugurated the crushing season.
Teni’s son Ashish Mishra alias Monu is the prime accused in the violence at Lakhimpur Kheri during which eight persons, including four farmers, were killed on October 3. Mishra is currently lodged in Lakhimpur Kheri district jail.
In the revised programme, general manager/secretary of the two cooperative sugar units said, “Kheri district magistrate, who is also the administrator of the two sugar mills, will inaugurate the crushing season in Sarju Cooperative Sugar Mill in Belrayan at 9 am and in Kisan Cooperative Sugar Mill in Sampurna Nagar at 11 am in the presence of farmers and shareholders.”
Earlier, Teni was scheduled to inaugurate the crushing season at the two sugar units. At the Lucknow mahapanchayat convened by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), Tikait had also said, “The arrest of Teni is our important demand.” Meanwhile, local BJP sources claimed the minister was busy with his pre-scheduled programmes out of district owing to which he was not in a position to inaugurate the crushing season.