Cong MLAs stage walkout,accuse Speaker of bias

Before staging the walkout,Gohil said the Speaker was doing it deliberately to ensure that there was no time left during the question hour to take up the question regarding removal of land encroachment by the Asaram Bapu Ashram in Motera village. Though the Speaker tried to reason with the Congress members,saying he was going by the rules and precedent of the House,the MLAs walked out of the House. They,however,returned after 10 minutes and resumed their seats.

Bhatt told the House that the conduct of the Congress members and levelling allegations against him was not proper because the debate was being held on an important issue. Stating it would be unconstitutional and anti-democratic to stop members from taking part in a debate,he made it clear that his intention was to ensure that all members took part in it.

The Speaker went on to say that from the conduct of the Opposition leader,it appeared that there was a pre-planned move to stage a walkout.

Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala,taking part in the debate,suggested stern action against Congress members for levelling allegations against the Speaker.

Later,in a press statement,state Health Minister and government spokesperson Jai Narayan Vyas and Industry Minister Saurabh Patel alleged that the walkout was “politically motivated and “amounted to an affront to the constitutional democracy”.

They said the Speaker was allowing on an average five minutes to each member and the debate was progressing satisfactorily well,with several Congress members taking part in it despite directions to them to abstain from the debate.

“Hence the allegations against the Speaker are false and baseless,” said the statement,adding that Gohil seemed to have forgotten his responsibility and the status of his post. “It is quite unfortunate,” it added.