Shimla, December 16
Sixteen members of the opposition, including 15 of the BJP and the lone representative of the Him Lok Tantrik Morcha, Mr Mohinder Singh, were suspended from the house up to December 19 for disrupting proceedings of the Vidhan Sabha for the second consecutive day of the winter session.
All BJP members, except Mr P.K. Dhumal, the leader of legislative group, were suspended after the repeated pleas of Mr Gangu Ram Musafir, Speaker, for maintaining decorum and respecting the ruling of the chair failed to restore order. Mr Kaul Singh, Himachal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs moved the resolution for the suspension of the members after they walked out of the House after the Speaker refused to admit their adjournment motions on Katwal tapes.
The trouble started as soon as the House assembled for the day with the BJP members along with Mr Mohinder Singh insisting the chair to give ruling on their adjournment motions before proceeding with the question hour. Uproar followed as the Speaker said that the notices were still under his consideration. As slogan shouting continued the Speaker announced his decision to allow a discussion on the issue under rule 130 instead of rule 67, which was meant for extraordinary situations.
Dissatisfied with the ruling the BJP members raised the pitch of slogan-shouting, while the Treasury Benches hailed it with the thumping of desks. The Speaker adjourned the House as the din continued. He again requested the protesting members to respect the ruling of the chair when the House reassembled after five minutes but to no avail. Instead the protesting members trooped into the well of the House forcing another adjournment.
Mr Gangu Ram Musafir made it very clear when the House reassembled for the second time that his ruling was final and rejected the plea of Mr Dhumal for a review. He said he would not allow any more debate on the issue. As pandemonium continued the Speaker named the 16 protesting members and asked them either to resume their respective seats or leave the House so that proceedings could get underway.
Mr Dhumal who was not named also left the House with the group. He said the government was shying away from discussion on the issue. As soon as the members left the House Mr Kaul Singh moved a resolution to suspend them. He
said BJP members had a pre-meditated plan to disrupt proceedings. Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, said the BJP members were encouraging corruption by their conduct. However, the government would not be cowed by such tactics and it would pursue the crusade against corruption with greater determination.
The question hour could not proceed because of unruly conduct of the members.
