Bhopal, March 3 (IANS) The Madhya Pradesh Assembly on Friday witnessed uproarious scenes over the ‘no confidence’ against Speaker Girish Gautam, leading to disruption of the House’s functioning, and eventually the adjournment of the fifth day of the Budget Session without any business.
The continuous ruckus in the Assembly prompted Speaker Girish Gautam to adjourn the House till March 13.
As the opposition Congress was already prepared to bring a ‘no confidence’ motion against the Speaker following his decision to suspend former minister and Congress MLA Jitu Patwari from the House for the remaining Budget Session on Thursday, they (Congress MLAs) raised slogans and demanded a debate on the matter.
Gautam tried to control the situation and begin the House’s proceedings. However, relentless noisy scenes prompted him to adjourn the Assembly first for 10 minutes, soon after the House met.
When the House resumed its business for the day again, the Congress MLAs continued their demand to have a debate over the ‘no confidence’ motion brought against the Speaker.
The Congress legislators led by the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Govind Singh, an MLA from the Lahar seat, reached the Speaker’s podium, and shouted slogans against him.
The Speaker tried to calm down the situation and requested the legislators to go back to their seats, saying he had not received any information regarding a ‘no confidence’ motion.
The Opposition tabled a ‘no confidence’ motion against Speaker Girish Gautam, accusing him of acting on behalf of the ruling BJP, and “shrinking the duration of the session”.
However, the ruling BJP hit back on them for not having the signature of the Madhya Pradesh unit Congress president Kamal Nath.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra intervened into the matter by showing the ‘rule book’ of the House.
As the Congress MLAs had already approached the Speaker’s podium, the BJP MLAs stood in the Speaker’s support, and eventually, the MLAs from both sides came face to face against each other briefly.
Further, LoP Govind Singh alleged that Narottam Mishra had thrown a book at him to hurt him.
This again created an uproar in the house. The LoP demanded suspension of the minister for the entire Budget Session, on the lines of the suspension of Jitu Patwari.
Mishra, however, tried to clarify that he was trying to move the peon when the ‘rules book’ accidentally slipped from his hand.
“I had no intention of hurting anyone. I have apologised for this in the House,” Mishra said.
–IANS
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