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Updated: Aug 28, 2019 22:00 IST

Arriving in his home district after being promoted as a cabinet minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, Muzaffarnagar riots accused Suresh Rana on Wednesday again brought up allegations that many Hindu families were forced to migrate from Kairana a few years ago.

He suggested that the situation had changed in the region after Yogi Adityanath became the chief minister.

“This is the same place from where people were forced to migrate. This is the same Kairana where traders were openly killed. It is the Yogi government which has restored peace and order here,” Rana said, addressing a welcome meeting in Kairana.

During the 2017 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, late BJP MP Hukum Singh had stoked a controversy by claiming that Hindus were migrating from the region due to lawlessness and appeasement policy of the administration towards Muslims.

Rana’s name figures in criminal cases relating to the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, in which over 60 people died.

He said the chief minister has sanctioned a power station to solve electricity-related woes in Shamli, while several other development schemes are also underway.

Rana, who was recently promoted as cabinet minister and was retained as the Minister for Sugarcane Development, said he has been given this responsibility and he will work hard to live up to the expectations.

He was accorded a warm welcome all through the district with number of roadside meetings and receptions.

He represents Thana Bhawan Assembly segment of Shamli district.