CHAOS IN GUJARAT ASSEMBLY, 2 CONG MLAS SUSPENDED

AHMEDABAD: Two first-time Congress legislators were suspended for three years and another for a year after a BJP member was allegedly hit by a microphone in violence that broke out in the Gujarat assembly on Wednesday.

The Congress has charged MLAs of the ruling party with provoking its members by using foul language. The BJP, however, denied any such occurrence. “No BJP member said anything that shouldn’t have been said. The CCTV footage will prove everything,” said deputy chief minister Nitin Patel.

Congress MLA Pratap Dudhat, who allegedly hit BJP member Jagdish Panchal with the microphone, and his colleague Amrish Der, who disobeyed speaker Rajendra Trivedi’s orders, have been suspended for three years. Another MLA Baldevji Thakor, who allegedly punched his BJP rivals in the assembly lobby, has been suspended for a year. A request in this regard was submitted by Nitin Patel. It all started when Congress member Vikram Madam tried to raise a point of order during the Question Hour. Patel responded by stating that a point of order couldn’t be raised because Congress whip Shailesh Parmar had already raised one, triggering a war of words in the assembly.

Madam, however, insisted on speaking. His party colleague, Amrish Der, asked speaker Rajendra Trivedi to allow Madam to speak.

When Trivedi objected to his tone, Madam and Der rushed into the well of the House. The speaker suspended both the MLAs for the day and ordered that they be marshalled out. This enraged Dudhat, who yanked out his desk microphone and allegedly hit Panchal with it. The speaker suspended Dudhat for the rest of the session and adjourned the House, but the scenario remained chaotic.

(With agency inputs)