Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 4: Entire Opposition BJP staged a walkout from Assembly during the debate on LG’s address this afternoon accusing Speaker, Abdul Rahim Rather of not giving time to their members to speak.
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During debate on LG’s address in the House when BJP and treasury benches were engaged in heated exchanges with each other, the BJP MLAs stood up from their seats and started protesting saying that Speaker was not allowing them to speak. Party MLAs including Sham Lal Sharma, C P Ganga, Satish Sharma, Balwant Singh Mankotia, Garu Ram Bhagat, Vijay Kumar Sharma, Vikram Randhawa, Yudhvir Sethi, Pawan Gupta, Shagun Parihar,Arvind Gupta and others came near Well and started protest before staging walkout.
They also came near the Well and had strong arguments with treasury benches before staging walkout in protest. Despite repeated pleas of Speaker A R Rather asking the Opposition MLAs to take their seats and not stage the walkout, they did not budge and left the House in protest.
Minister of Transport, Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs and Sports, Satish Sharma with whom they had a verbal duel was heard saying “Go outside and have tea”.
The Speaker repeatedly asked the MLAs not to leave the House as it was turn of their member Surjit Singh Salathia to speak but they did not listen. He even asked them to allow Salathia to speak on LG’s address but they did not budge. Salathia also staged a walkout along with his party colleagues though earlier he stood up to take part in the debate.
The Speaker, however, said that he had allotted time slot to all parties including independent members and every MLA will be allowed to speak on his turn. “It was now turn of BJP’s Surjit Singh Salathia but he too staged walkout so what I can do? He said all members are given time as per their turn and time slot. The NC is the largest party hence they with get more time than others followed by BJP, he added.
The BJP members after staging walkout later sat on dharna on stairs of Assembly outside alleging that Speaker was not allowing them to speak.
However, later during the debate, NC’s Nazir Gurezi requested the Speaker that BJP MLAs are the members of this House and public representatives. They too want to raise the issues of their respective areas and hence a member be deputed asking them to return and participate in the debate.
Speaker A R Rather however asked Gurezi that he should go outside and ask BJP members to return and resume their seats. Later Gurezi requested BJP MLAs to return on their return they participated in the debate and spoke on LG’s address.
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