Rajasthan assembly passes GST bill, state third to do so
ROUGH PASSAGE House witnesses unruly scenes as Speaker suspends 14 Oppn MLAs
The Rajasthan assembly Wednesday became the third, after Telangana and Bihar, to pass the State Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017.
The passage of the bill, however, necessary to ensure the GST regime rollout, came amid dramatic scenes, including suspension of 14 opposition MLAs form the House for a year on charges of indiscipline.
The three-day special session called to pass the GST Bill, witnessed unruly scenes leading to Speaker twice calling in the marshals on two days to maintain order. The opposition made all efforts to corner the government on issues such as disinvestment of heritage hotels, Alwar lynching case, and controversial statements by ruling party MLAs on Ambadkar.
Miffed with the behaviour of the Opposition MLAs, Speaker Kailash Meghwal Wednesday suspended 14 MLAs after a proposal moved by the ruling side chief whip Kalu Lal Gurjar was passed by voice vote.
Leader of Opposition Rameshwar Dudi had termed Speaker’s decision “injustice and against democracy”, while Meghwal said it was a fallout of “the unwarranted act of opposition, leading to disruption of House proceedings”.
“I was generous to the opposition and gave them protection and more time to speak but they considered this as my weakness.
“I will now ensure impartial action. For last three-days, the opposition has been disrupting the proceedings.”
“It is shameful. They insulted me. It has become a habit. I will not tolerate this,” Meghwal said.
The suspension of 12 Congress members in this group was later reduced to a day after party leaders Pradyuman Singh and Narayan Singh held talks with Meghwal, chief minister Vasundhara Raje, and ministers Rajendra Rathore and Gulab Chand Kataria.
Gurjar moved a revised proposal to this effect, which too was passed.
The Speaker said that a decision on the the remaining two MLAs — independent Hanuman Beniwal and BSP’s Manoj Nyangli — will be taken later when they tender their apologies.
After the suspension was reduced, Raje said, “I thank the members of House, who approached us for talks. Members have assured that such behaviour will not happen in future. whatever happened was unfortunate,” he said.