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Chandigarh, October 25
Irked at Tuesday’s incident when Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala was stopped from intervening in a discussion by Speaker Kanwar Pal Gujjar, INLD MLAs on Wednesday arrived in the Vidhan Sabha with their mouths gagged.
The INLD MLAs led by Chautala arrived in the House five minutes after the proceedings for the third and last day of the monsoon session of the State Assembly had already begun. But all MLAs, including Chautala, had their mouths covered with gags.
Question Hour was in progress when the INLD MLAs arrived and some of the early questions were to be asked by their members, but they kept sitting quiet with their mouths gagged, much to the amusement of onlookers and mediapersons.
Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Balkar Singh, who had won the October 2014 Assembly poll from Kalanwali in Sirsa with the active support of the INLD, tried to speak on this issue twice, but he was stopped by the Speaker saying Question Hour was in progress.
The SAD MLA was trying to say that the way Chautala was on Tuesday stopped from speaking on an issue concerning “threat” to a Congress member from a union minister’s kin in Faridabad was uncalled for.
Speaker Kanwar Pal Gujjar and Abhay Chautala had exchanged words on Tuesday after the later was stopped from intervening in a matter raised by Congress legislator from Tigaon Lalit Nagar.
Nagar had alleged that one Rajpal, alias Mama, a close associate of a Central minister from Haryana, was shielding those indulging in illegal activities in Faridabad, including illegal constructions.
Nagar has also alleged that he was threatened for raising his voice against the illegal activities of the central minister’s kin.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma rose from his seat and requested the INLD MLAs to remove their gags; at the same time, he mocked them saying that not inhaling air for long could lead to serious medical problems.
Health Minister Anil Vij also took a dig at the INLD MLAs saying they seemed to be suffering from a serious ailment.
At this juncture, Congress MLAs Geeta Bhukkal, Kiran Chaudhry and some others came in support of INLD MLAs and alleged that the voice of opposition was being stifled.
“Instead of requesting INLD MLAs to remove their gags and listening to their grievances, the ruling party leaders, including senior ministers, were mocking at them,” the Congress MLAs alleged.
Finally, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar intervened and requested the INLD MLAs to remove their gags assuring them that the government had already taken cognisance of Nagar’s allegations, though he maintained that it was an issue pertaining to local politics of Faridabad.
Though Chautala and his MLAs removed their gags, the next 40 minutes which were left of Question Hour were sacrificed to an uproar in which members of ruling party and the opposition parties continued pointing fingers at one another.
Chautala said that as Leader of Opposition, it was his duty to intervene when an opposition MLA raised issue of threat from kin of a central minister, while Gujjar maintained that despite given maximum time, Chautala was in the habit of interfering when others spoke.
Finally, the Speaker adjourned the House for half an hour amidst commotion after Question Hour ended.
