Gujarat Congress MLAs suspended for rest of session

All Congress MLAs in Gujarat Assembly were on Wednesday suspended for the rest of the budget session for stalling proceedings of the House after a resolution to this effect was moved by ruling BJP.

With the expulsion, the state assembly will function without any opposition member for the remaining two days of the session.

In the 182-member House, Congress has 54 members. However, Leader of the Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil had already been suspended for the entire session which ends on March 30.

The day started with Congress legislators entering the House holding placards and shouting slogans demanding tabling of a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report in the House, which they claim exposes "BJP government's corruption".

Congress leader Siddarth Patel alleged even though some excerpts of the report appeared in newspapers, the state government was reluctant to table it in the House.

Speaker Ganpat Vasava asked Congress MLAs not to display placards in the House as any kind of demonstration is not allowed there. However, Congress members continued with their protest, after which the Speaker adjourned the Assembly for an hour.

When the House reassembled, Congress legislators demanded a discussion on the rise in prices of groundnut and other edible oils.

However, the Speaker rejected their demand saying it was not on the agenda of day's work. Congress members then displayed edible oil tins and shouted slogans like "Under Modi rule, liquor is cheaper than oil", following which the Speaker adjourned the House for the second time for half an hour.

After the second adjournment, Minister of State for Energy Saurabh Patel announced a one-time relief scheme for defaulters of electricity bills even as Congress leader Arjun Modhvadia raised objections to the scheme and all the party members resorted to sloganeering against the state government and Chief Minister Narendra Modi.