SP to boycott House for entire session
LUCKNOW: A day after boycotting the all-party meeting, the opposition parties - the Samajwadi Party, BSP and the Congress staged a walkout on Thursday in the state assembly accusing the Yogi Adityanath government of threatening the opposition leaders and using unparliamentary language in the house.
The SP has announced boycott of the house for the entire budget session. The BSP and the Congress, however, boycotted the house for the day and will announce their future course of action soon.
After holding a meeting with leaders of the opposition parties, the leaders reached the state assembly and began staging a walkout one after the other after making their point in the house. Leader of opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary rose from his seat soon after the house assembled at 11am and said, “Whatever happened in the state assembly is unprecedented. True, we lost election and are sitting in opposition. The opposition has never used unparliamentary language in the house. We are all waking out.”
Chaudhary said the opposition tried its best to ensure that business of the house was conducted smoothly and that there were no adjournments. “Actions shown and language used in the house indicate that the government wants to put the entire opposition in jail. It is being threatened and discussions are being held about sending families to jail. This has lowered dignity of the house,” he said.
Chaudhary also referred to recovery of explosive from the state assembly and said the state government did not share any information on the issue, not even with the Speaker. Opposition was walking out to save dignity of the chair, he said.
BSP leader Lalji Verma said rules were being quoted whenever the opposition wanted to make any point. There were, however, no such rules when the ruling party members spoke in the house, he said. Verma said the state government was working in a dictatorial manner and there was no point in attending the house.
Congress Legislature Party leader Ajay Kumar Lallu said this was for the first time in the history of state assembly that leader of opposition’s microphone was switched off. Lallu said the state government was trying to suppress the voice of opposition that was trying to raise the issues of public interest.