BJP for tough action against protesting opposition MLAs

Sat, May 17 01:00 AM

Ruling BJP MLAs in Uttarakhand on Friday sought stern punishment against Congress and BSP legislators for creating a ruckus inside Vidhan Sabha on May 12. They were opposing the tabling of a select committee report on the contentious Uttarakhand State Universities Bill.

As reported earlier, legislators of both opposition parties had broken chairs, mircrophones, manhandled Vidhan Sabha staff and thrown paper at Speaker Harbans Kapoor on Monday while opposing the tabling of the select committee report. Speaking during a discussion on Monday's incident, the BJP legislators urged Speaker Harbans Kapoor to initiate exemplary punishment proceedings against the opposition members so that such incidents are not repeated in future.

While Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant stated the opinions of members of the House be taken into account before taking any action against the MLAs, Congress and the BSP legislators lodged protest by keeping mum and covering their mouths with black cloth. BJP MLA H.S. Cheema pointed out that it's against rules and traditions to cover faces with cloth inside the House, but BSP's Narayan Pal mentioned that they were forced to resort to take such steps as Leader of Opposition Harak Singh Rawat was not being allowed to speak.

Terming the May 12 incident as improper, Irrigation Minister Matbar Singh Kandari and BJP MLA Munna Singh Chauhan sought stringent action against all Congress and BSP MLAs who had indulged in unruly behaviour and shown disrespect to the Speaker. "Most stringent action as per rules should be taken to send a message to all that Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha is not a boxing ring or sports arena where members can indulge in such behaviour," said Chauhan.

Health Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank stated if the opposition had any problems with the Bill, amendments could have been incorporated. "But the way in which Congress and BSP MLAs acted, it sullied the image Uttarakhand," he said.

The Speaker asked 11 Congress and BSP MLAs whose names had cropped up during the discussion to give their views on the incident, but all of them preferred to remain silent. "It is against parliamentary tradition to cover faces with cloth inside the House.

I wanted to hear the Congress and BSP legislators as well. But since they are not speaking, the proceedings of the House are adjourned till Monday," announced Kapoor.

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