M A I N   N E W S

25 INLD legislators suspended from House
Accused of indiscipline, the MLAs’ suspension will continue for rest of the session
Tribune News service

Chandigarh, February 25
Twenty-five MLAs of the Opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) were suspended for the rest of the ongoing Budget session of the Haryana Assembly today. They have been accused of creating indiscipline and stalling the House proceedings.

The Assembly also passed a resolution condemning the behaviour of the INLD MLAs. Abhay Chautala and Ashok Arora, the only two INLD MLAs who were not suspended since they were not in the House, staged a walkout after Speaker Kuldeep Sharma refused to revoke suspension of the INLD MLAs.

The INLD was seeking a reply from the government on the Lokayukta’s recommendation of registering an FIR against Chief Parliamentary Secretary Ram Kishan Fauji in a graft case.

While INLD and BJP legislators had come prepared to corner the government on the CD sue and the controversy around Tosham BJP leader’s murder, the treasury benches took an aggressive stance against the attack.

Immediately after the question hour, before INLD’s Rampal Majra could proceed with his calling attention motion on malnutrition, the Opposition virtually took over as Chautala, Arora and BJP’s Anil Vij insisted that the government should make a statement on the FIR against Fauji and the Tosham murder. Excise Minister Kiran Choudhry had, in a letter to the Chief Minister, claimed that she was being named in the Tosham murder case as part of a conspiracy to malign her.

The Opposition MLAs initially tried to exercise restraint and did not venture into the Well of the House. However, an aggressive Congress camp, led by Fauji and Naresh Sharma, waved pictures of INLD leader Abhay Chautala and outshouted the Opposition. In the din, the Speaker adjourned the House for the first time. The Speaker repeatedly asked Majra to read out his calling attention motion and dismissed it when the latter did not respond.

Soon thereafter, the INLD staged a walkout in protest against this dismissal and the Speaker’s failure to give a ruling on an adjournment motion on the CD issue. The BJP followed suit after being told that Vij’s calling attention motion, again on the CD issue, had been rejected.

Pandemonium reigned after proceedings resumed and the Speaker adjourned the House for the second time. As the proceedings resumed, crucial issues again got lost in the sloganeering that went on between the treasury and the Opposition benches for over an hour. After warning the INLD MLAs, the Speaker named 25 of them and suspended them for the rest of the session. Arora and Abhay Chautala were addressing the media in the press lobby at that time. On their return to the House, Arora and Chautala urged the Speaker to revoke MLAs’ suspension. This, however, was turned down by the Speaker, who said he would “talk to them separately”. Dissatisfied, Arora and Chautala also staged a walkout.

Chautala later said, “We were only seeking a reply on the fate of the Lokayukta’s recommendation. They can send us out of the House, but we will expose them in every village and every home.”