Hindustan Times (Jalandhar)

15 Cong MLAs expelled from Haryana House

DAYLONG EXPULSION Speaker took action as protesting legislator­s seeking the House adjournmen­t to discuss DadupurNal­vi project denotifica­tion didn’t budge despite assurance

- HT Correspond­ent letterschd@hindustant­imes.com

CHANDIGARH: Haryana Vidhan Sabha speaker on Monday expelled 15 Congress MLAs for a day on the opening day of the session for creating ruckus over seeking House adjournmen­t to discuss the de-notificati­on of Dadupur-Nalvi scheme.

CHANDIGARH:The Haryana Vidhan Sabha speaker on Monday expelled 15 Congress MLAs from the assembly for a day on the opening day of the session for creating ruckus over seeking House adjournmen­t to discuss the de-notificati­on of the DadupurNal­vi irrigation scheme by the BJP government.

The MLAs, who assembled in the well of the House, were demanding that House be adjourned right away and did not yield despite assurances by speaker Kanwar Pal to have a discussion on the matter on Tuesday. The speaker told them that he had allowed an adjournmen­t motion to be taken up on Tuesday.

They, however, kept arguing with the speaker and swarmed the well of the House. After a bout of noisy arguments, the speaker decided to name the 15 Congress lawmakers and ordered they be driven out from the House. In no time, they were surrounded by the House marshals to escort them out of the assembly.

Those expelled were Congress Legislatur­e Party (CLP) leader Kiran Choudhry (Tosham), Randeep Surjewala (Kaithal), Karan Dalal (Palwal), Kuldeep Sharma (Ganaur), RS Kadian (Beri), Anand Singh Dangi (Meham), Lalit Nagar (Tigaon), Jai Tirth Dahiya (Rai), Sri Kishan Hooda (Baroda), Geeta Bhukkal (Jhajjar), Jagbir Malik (Gohana), Renuka Bishnoi (Hansi), Shakuntala Khatak (Kalanaur), Udai Bhan (Hodal) and Jaiveer Singh (Kharkhauda).

Shouting anti-government slogans, they trooped out of the House.

Later, addressing a press conference, Randeep Surjewala, Kuldeep Sharma and Karan Singh Dalal claimed the speaker did not accede to their demand of adjourning the House right away under pressure from the BJP government.

“Had the speaker followed the rulebook, he would have allowed the adjournmen­t motion today,’’ they said.

Surjewala said the state government could not have ordered de-notificati­on of the Dadupur Nalvi land since the proposed enabling provision in the Right to Fair Compensati­on and Transparen­cy in Land Acquisitio­n Act is yet to get the President’s assent.

While the applicable provision is yet to receive the President’s assent, the Manohar Lal Khattar government went ahead with the de-notificati­on decision under section 101 of the Act on the advice of the Advocate General.

Surjewala said Section 101 cannot be invoked in case of Dadupur Nalvi land as it is not unutilised and it (the section) pertained to land acquired under the 2013 land acquisitio­n law and not the old Act.

CONG LEGISLATOR­S NONSERIOUS: INLD

Once the Congress legislator­s were driven out of the House, leader of the opposition Abhay Singh Chautala accused them of being non-serious in discussing issues of public interest. “It was important that they should remain present when this issues is discussed as the Congress was at the helm when the DadupurNal­vi irrigation scheme took shape,’’ Abhay said.

Another Indian National Lok Dal MLA Zakir Hussain said the adjournmen­t motion being referred to by the speaker was actually proposed by the INLD MLAs.

“The Congress proposed it as an afterthoug­ht,’’ the INLD MLAs claimed.

CONGRESS LEADERS SAY SPEAKER DIDN’T ACCEDE TO THEIR DEMAND OF ADJOURNING THE HOUSE RIGHT AWAY UNDER BJP GOVT’S PRESSURE

 ?? KESHAV SINGH/HT ?? Congress MLAs raising slogans as they walk out of the House after they were expelled from the assembly, in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha on Monday.
KESHAV SINGH/HT Congress MLAs raising slogans as they walk out of the House after they were expelled from the assembly, in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha on Monday.

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