Chandigarh, February 27
On a day marred by unruly scenes and a walkout by the Bharatiya Janta Party over an adjournment motion against Leader of the Opposition Om Prakash Chautala during the ongoing session of the Haryana Assembly, Speaker Kuldeep Sharma today suspended 27 Opposition MLAs for a day.

Abhay Chautala (extreme right) and other party MLAs after their suspension on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan

After repeated warnings failed to bring any semblance of order in the House, which had to be adjourned twice, the Speaker suspended 26 Indian National Lok Dal MLAs, including Abhay Chautala, and the sole Shiromani Akali Dal MLA, for their conduct. The “controversial” adjournment motion will now be taken up tomorrow.

Even as the real issue got lost in the din, non-issues took the centrestage in the House which had suspended the discussion on the Governor’s address to take up two adjournment motions - one about the probity of Chautala continuing as Leader of the Opposition and the other pertaining to Skylight Hospitality Ltd, a Robert Vadra company.

Immediately after the question hour, BJP’s Anil Vij set the mood for things to come, seeking to know the fate of his calling attention motion on swine flu.

Just as Congress MLA Sampat Singh stood up to move his motion against Chautala, Indian National Lok Dal’s Rampal Majra quoted rules to state that a matter that is sub judice cannot be discussed in the House and asked for the Speaker’s ruling while the BJP insisted that the government cannot bring an adjournment motion.

In the ruckus that followed, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala explained that the House was not discussing the “merits of the appeal”.

“The verdict has come, the accused is in custody and the motion is on the ethical right to continue as Leader of the Opposition,” he said. The Opposition, however, continued to protest and the BJP finally staged a walkout.

The Speaker, referring to Sampat Singh as “professor”, asked him to move his motion. INLD’s Bishen Lal Saini objected to the use of “professor” for the MLA.

Abhay Chautala caused a furore in the treasury benches with his remark against Sampat Singh. As the two sides

sparred, the Speaker tried to placate them. The protesting INLD MLAs, however, trooped into the Well of the House. The Speaker warned Abhay Chautala against “intimidating” him as the treasury and Opposition benches “traded” charges, forcing an adjournment.

On resumption of proceedings, Surjewala “condemned the attitude of Indian National Lok Dal MLAs who, he said, tried to browbeat the Chair. “Such unparliamentary practice from Opposition parties is rarely seen,” he said, seeking an apology from the Indian National Lok Dal.

Indian National Lok Dal’s Ashok Arora said that “circumstances were being created” to provoke the MLAs and charged Congress legislator Naresh Sharma with using a casteist remark against one of the party’s MLAs. To this, the latter apologised twice and explained that he had not used the remark to hurt the sentiments of any community. The adamant INLD MLAs, however, trooped into the Well of t he House and started shouting slogans even as Surjewala insisted that they were creating the brouhaha to wriggle out of the motion.

The Speaker issued a warning to the Indian National Lok Dal MLAs to go back to their seats. When the House met again, Power minister Capt Ajay Yadav objected to the manner in which Indian National Lok Dal’s Rampal Majra had addressed him, prompting protest by Opposition legislators, who again rushed to the Well. But this time, they were, escorted out of the House by marshals.

Surjewala urged the Speaker to take up the motion tomorrow in the presence of the Indian National Lok Dal after which the discussion on the Governor’s address resumed.