Oppn stages walkout after minister stretches his reply
CHAOS House adjourned during zero hour, MLA Meena asks Speaker to fix reply time
Amid uproar the Rajasthan Assembly on Friday was adjourned during zero hour while Opposition members staged a walkout during question hour.
Objecting to state labour minister Jaswant Yadav taking more than 20 minutes to answer a question raised by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Banwari Lal Singhal, opposition Congress members staged a walkout, alleging that government was avoiding a question about grants to cow shelters.
The minister was answering to a question raised by the BJP member about action plan of the government to connect child labour with education in the state.
Congress deputy whip Govind Singh Dotasara, alleged that the government was misusing the House to avoid the next question about cow shelters. But the minister continued with his answer, saying that the child labour issue is equally important and it was his responsibility to answer the question.
Yadav said the answer is long as the matter involves five departments, following which the Speaker allowed him to continue.
Registering their protest, Opposition members staged a walkout. “The way Yadav was answering the question in the House shows that the government was trying to get away from discussions about to cow shelters...We wanted to discuss the issue, but the government avoided the question,” Dotasara told media outside the House.
He alleged that the government also asked Singhal to leave the House to avoid the question about cow shelters.
Congress members demanded the Speaker’s intervention on the issue, to which he asked members whether time limit should be fixed for questions and answers but none replied.
National Peoples’ Party (NNP) member Kirori Lal Meena asked the Speaker to fix a time limit for questions and answers as followed in Parliament.
Later during zero hour, the House was adjourned for around 45 minutes when Meena tried to raise the issue of an alleged scam but was not given time to speak.
Meena’s wife, Golma Devi also joined her husband and urged the Speaker to give time. “Since last four days, I have been requesting for time to speak but my voice is suppressed,” Meena told media persons outside the House. He alleged that a Sriganganagar-based industrialist under public participation donated₹10 crore to municipal council for development projects in the area during the previous government’s tenure.
More than 70% of the projects were completed with the fund but when the BJP government was formed in the state, the money with interest was returned to the industrialist.