By
L S Herdenia
BHOPAL: The first session of the newly
constituted Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha ended on a bitter note. The four-day
session was marked by stormy scenes, angry exchanges and a series of walkout by
the opposition.
The
election of Speaker and deputy Speaker was held in the midst of slogan shouting
by the BJP members. While the Speaker was elected on January 9, the deputy’s
election took place the next day. It is for the first time that a female member
was elected deputy Speaker. Both Congress and BJP sponsored their candidates
for deputy Speakership. The post has traditionally gone to the opposition
party. But this time this tradition was broken and the Congress blamed BJP for
this.
The
BJP proposed the candidature of Jagdeesh Dera, but it was not accepted as the
rule cited by Congress during the Speaker’s election came into play. BJP did
not walk out this time, but kept shouting slogans. Amid noisy protests and
after repeated adjournments, Heena Likhiram Kavre, the two-time MLA from Lanji
seat, was elected deputy Speaker. “We are unhappy that tradition has been
broken but BJP started it,” Chief Minister Kamal Nath told reporters outside
the House.
“The
BJP has been continuously trying to entice our MLAs and it is they who have
broken the tradition,” Nath alleged “BJP filled nomination for Speaker with the
intention of fragmentation. Proving our majority – that we had the numbers –
became priority for us. When BJP broke tradition, we replied in their language.
Thereafter, we decided to hold elections for deputy Speaker”.
Since
1990, it was a convention that the ruling party appointed the Speaker while the
opposition got the deputy’s post. With 109 MLAs, BJP this time wanted to show
its strength in the House and asked for an election for Speaker. They wanted to
propose former minister and tribal face Vijay Shah, but it wasn’t taken up as
the first proposal. For Congress N. P. Prajapati didn’t fall through. On
Wednesday after Heena filed nomination for deputy Speaker, BJP got SC member
and former minister Jagdish Dewra to file papers to take it to a contest.
BJP
leaders accused the Speaker of being unfair and demanded his resignation. “We
are reaching New Delhi on January 10 and have sought an appointment with the
President. We will apprise him of the situation and how Congress elected the
Speaker and deputy Speaker undemocratically, violating the norms in the House.
We seek the intervention of the President and are also contemplating moving a
no-confidence motion against the Congress government” said BJP leader Bhupendra
Singh. Party MLAs and senior leaders are going to Delhi for the two-day
national executive meet on January 11 and 12, he said.
Leader
of Opposition (LoP) Gopal Bhargava said it was the responsibility of the ruling
party to conduct the house proceedings in a cordial atmosphere. “But Congress
government adopted a rigid stand on the very first day, which continued al
through the session. Congress is afraid of losing the floor test hence did not
allow voting in the house,” said Bhargava. BJP had demanded secret ballot in
the election of both chairs but the voice vote was allowed.
Kamal
Nath rejected the allegations that the elections of Speaker and deputy Speaker
were unfair and said BJP was welcome to approach legal experts and the higher
authorities “But the reality is that the party lost majority support in the
floor test in the house and Congress successfully passed it twice. BJP has been
losing ground since the assembly elections and knowing that the party cannot
stand a floor test in the house, it deviated from tradition. Now, talking about
tradition will not serve any purpose,” Nath told reporters. Speaker N P
Prajapati said every decision taken in the house is based on rules. “BJP is
trying to divert attention of the house by raising slogans and entering into
the well,” he said.
Meanwhile,
after senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, chief minister Kamal Nath also
asserted that “BJP is involved in horse-trading”. He claimed that he possesses
conclusive evidence to substantiate the charge.
BJP
has been snipping at the Chair and Congress launching a strong counter attack
by the CM himself. “BJP leaders, beware! There are more revelations to come in
several matters and this is a trailer. The acts of BJP leaders during the past
15 years will be uncovered soon,” he said.
While
Congress and BJP were engaged in a hot war, there was cheerful news for former
chief minister Shiv Raj Singh Chouhan, who has been promoted as one of the
national vice presidents of BJP. This makes it clear that the party’s national
leadership has decided to assign him a new responsibility away from his home
state. (IPA Service)
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