These law-makers were protesting for the rights of sugarcane farmers

Two Uttar Pradesh lawmakers today gave a new meaning to the term "topless protests".Suresh Sharma and Veer Pal Rathi, who are from the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), ripped off their kurtas and went bare in the state assembly as Governor BL Joshi arrived to give his inaugural address.The lawmakers then climbed their desks and shouted slogans against the Akhilesh Yadav government.They were demanding a better deal for sugarcane farmers in western Uttar Pradesh, who, they alleged, were being neglected by the state government.The RLD is headed by Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh and has eight lawmakers in the state assembly, mostly from western part of the state.

The Bahujan Samaj Party also raised slogans against the state government. The Governor had to abandon his address midway and leave the assembly.