Ruckus in House after verbal spat between BJP and Cong MLAs
SLOGANS AGAINST SPEAKER Himachal govt resorting to hooliganism to throttle our voice, alleges opposition
DHARAMSHALA: The Himachal Pradesh assembly was adjourned for 25 minutes on Thursday noon after the opposition and treasury benchers created a ruckus over ‘objectionable slogans’ raised against the speaker and the state government.
Members of the opposition had accused the speaker, Rajeev Bindal, of harbouring a bias against them, and staged a walkout on Wednesday.
After the Question Hour ended on Thursday, BJP legislator Rakesh Pathania got up on his seat in protest and referred opposition’s behaviour on Wednesday as ‘intolerable’.
Commotion ensued between the legislators, which was followed by verbal spat between the two sides, who raised slogans against each other.
While BJP legislator Rakesh Jamwal alleged that the behaviour of the opposition had hurt dignity of the House, leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri alleged that the government was resorting to ‘gundagardi’ (hooliganism) and trying to “throttle” opposition’s voice.
Amid slogan-shouting by the legislators, the speaker adjourned the house for 25 minutes.
The opposition, however, again resorted to sloganeering after the House assembled again, but normalcy returned to the assembly after the speaker allowed Agnihotri to put forward his point.
“Parliamentary affairs minister on Wednesday moved a resolution against opposition members in their absence. The minister forgot that he once insulted the chair after he sat on the speaker’s seat after the assembly was adjourned,” Agnihotri said.
The leader of opposition alleged that the government introduced a bill in the House proposing to make laws stringent to curb drug menace and also brought a discussion on the same day under Rule 130 which he said was “against the norms”.
“Our notices for discussion were rejected as all other discussions listed in agenda were from the ruling side. I know this was done on the behest of the chief minister,” Agnihotri claimed.
“If the CM thinks that he has done some kind of favour by granting the status of leader of opposition, then he is wrong and can withdraw it,” Agnihotri added. On slogans raised in the House against the state government, he said they were misinterpreted and asked if ruling members were ashamed of being referred as members of the Sangh.
Responding to charges of bias in agenda listing, the speaker said he had clarified on Wednesday that no notice of discussion by opposition members was pending. “Notice given by the leader of opposition under rule 62 is listed for discussion on Friday. If you will walk out of House, what discussion can be held?” Bindal asked.
Bindal refuted allegation that he was working under government pressure.
DIALOGUE ONLY WAY TO RESOLVE ISSUES: CM
On Agnihotri’s allegation of sponsoring ‘hooliganism’, the chief minister said the members should choose words carefully while expressing their opinion. “Words used by the opposition against the chair were not appropriate,” Jai Ram said.
He added that dialogue was the only way to resolve issues. “I want the opposition party to be present in the House as conversation becomes meaningful when both sides debate the issue,” the CM said.
On cases being withdrawn against politicians, the CM said that claimed that only trivial matters were being dropped.
The CM made the statement after Kinnaur legislator Jagat Singh Negi raised a ‘Point of Order’ seeking to know why a question raising the matter was removed from proceedings on Wednesday.
The question was asked by Nadaun MLA Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. “Such cases were withdrawn in the past also,” Thakur replied.