PM Modi visits historic Allahabad High Court

Modi reached the high court premises at 4 PM and was received by judges led by Acting Chief Justice V K Shukla and members of the Bar Association. The Prime Minister spent nearly 50 minutes at the court before leaving for Kali Prasad Inter College sports ground, where the national executive meeting is scheduled later in the evening.

Earlier in the day, the party’s state unit chief Keshav Prasad Maurya had made a dash to the Allahabad High Court following reports that members of the High Court Bar Association (HCBA) were livid over a recent media report wherein BJP national president Amit Shah had been quoted as having supported a separate bench of the judicial body for western Uttar Pradesh.

The issue of a separate bench has been under consideration for long and advocates of the high court have been stoutly opposing the idea as it would “deprive” them of clientele from that relatively prosperous and crime-ridden region.

On Saturday night, the HCBA held an emergency meeting and announced that its members will register protest over Shah’s alleged statement when the Prime Minister’s visits the High Court.

However, the HCBA withdrew its protest following the visit of Maurya, who explained that the media report was unsubstantiated and that Shah himself has denied having spoken anything over the separate bench issue, the Association’s Chairman Radha Kant Ojha said.

“The members of the Bar agreed to join the Bench in welcoming the Prime Minister who made a courtesy call at the High Court which is celebrating its sesquicentennial”, Ojha said.