Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 28: Government today assured the MLAs that they will be taken on board while making decisions on development works in their constituencies after opposition members created ruckus on not being consulted.
The issue was raised in the Legislative Assembly by National Conference MLA from Pahalgam Altaf Kaloo who informed the House that he was not invited to a meeting yesterday on tourism in his constituency by Minister of State for Tourism Priya Sethi.
The CPI (M) MLA, M Y Tarigami said that not informing the MLA is violation of the protocol. “It should not happen. MLAs should be informed and consulted”, he said.
As the Speaker Kavinder Gupta and the Minister did not respond to Kaloo’s claim, the opposition members from both Congress and NC asked the Government to make a statement on the issue.
Kaloo said the elected MLAs had to face the electorate and were answerable to them. “Let the Minister tell us how many votes she had got in the elections,” Kaloo said in a sarcastic reference to Sethi, who is a nominated MLA.
Forest Minister Chaudhary Lal Singh intervened saying it is not necessary that local MLA needs to be taken into confidence when a minister visits his or her constituency. “Also, nobody has the right to ask a nominated member about how many votes they have got,” he added.
Singh’s statement triggered an angry response from the opposition members who stormed the Well of the House.
Speaker said that if a minister goes to the constituency of an MLA, he/she should be informed. “If MLA is not there, it does not look good”, he added.
NC MLA Ali Mohammad Sagar said that Ministers are insulting MLAs. “We will not tolerate it. Minister are there because of the MLAs”, he said.
The Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Abdul Rehman Veeri intervened and requested the opposition members to resume seats before he made a statement on the issue. “I do not want to go into the past. But we will ensure that the local MLA is taken on board whenever there are development related meetings or inauguration of projects,” he said.
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