Farmers' protest in Madhya Pradesh: Top developments

RAHUL GANDHI DETAINED
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was detained by police when he tried to force his way into Madhya Pradesh with surging crowds of Congress supporters shouting slogans in praise of the farmer.
According to police, Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot and Madhya Pradesh legislator Jaiwardhan Singh also courted arrest. Gandhi was accompanied by senior party leaders Digvijay Singh and Kamal Nath.

MODI ONLY INTERESTED IN WAIVING LOANS OF RICH: RAHUL
Prime Minister Narendra Modi can waive loans of the country's rich but can't do the same for farmers, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said just before he was detained by police here.

RAHUL HAD NO PERMISSION TO VISIT MP
The district administration of Mandsaur today denied permission to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi to pay a visit to the violence-hit area where five agitating farmers were killed in police firing on Tuesday.

GOVT BUYING BULLETS FROM KRISHI KALYAN CESS: CPI(M)
Are people paying Krishi Kalyan cess so that the government could buy bullets to be shot at farmers, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) asked, as it attacked the Centre over the violent stir by peasants in Madhya Pradesh. Taking to Twitter, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury also suggested the Centre was "shying away" from taking questions on the stir from media, sarcastically saying the "brave" government is not taking question on the issue.

COLLECTOR, SP OF VIOLENCE-HIT MP DISTRICTS TRANSFERRED
The Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday transferred the District Magistrates of three violence-hit districts -- Mandsaur, Ratlam and Neemuch -- over the growing agitation by farmers, while the Mandsaur Police Superintendent was also transferred. A circular issued said Mandsaur DM Swatantra Kumar Singh has been replaced by the DM of Shivpuri OP Shrivastava, while B Chandrashekhar has been replaced by Tanvi Sundriyal in Ratlam. In Neemuch, Kaushlendra Vikram Singh was named the new DM, replacing Rajneesh Shrivastava. The government also transferred Mandsaur SP, OP Tripathi and posted Manoj Kumar Singh in his place.

MP HM CONFIRMS DEATH OF FIVE FARMERS BY POLICE FIRING
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh admitted that the police did fire at farmers on Tuesday killing five of them.

CONGRESS INSTIGATING, POLITICISING MP FARMERS' STIR: BJP
Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has accused the Congress of instigating and politicising farmers' stir in the state and termed Rahul Gandhi's planned visit to the violence-hit Mandsaur as "another photo opportunity".

62 PEOPLE DETAINED
Madhya Pradesh police today said that at least 62 people involved in Mandsaur violence have been detained. "62 people have been detained and some more people are being identified on the basis of videos and pictures," Superintendent of Police (SP) OP Tripathi said.

CONGRESS QUESTIONS PM'S SILENCE ON FARMERS KILLING
On Wednesday, the Congress termed as "cold-blooded murder" the killing of five farmers in police firing and questioned the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence over it. The Congress also accused the BJP of "acting as a curse of death for Indian farmers".

RAF DEPLOYED IN MANDSAUR
Contingents of Rapid Action Force (RAF) were today deployed in the violence- hit district where the situation remained tense. Two companies of RAF, comprising around 100 men each, have moved into Pipliamandi in Mandsaur, the site of Tuesday's shooting of five farmers, police said.