'Biased' Speaker not allowing J-K Assembly to function: Omar Abdullah

Justifying the protest over the issue of beef ban and rehabilitation of flood victims by the Congress and National Conference in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, former chief minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said it is 'biased' Speaker Kavinder Gupta, who is not allowing the House to function.

"It is the Speaker, through his actions and words, who is not allowing the House to function. We have the most biased Speaker. This Speaker is biased, look at his statements. He is preventing functioning of the House, not us," said Abdullah.

"To save his government, the Chief Minister is disempowering legislature. The Speaker doesn't allow the opposition to do its work. Our conduct in the House depends on the conduct of the Speaker; if he throttles us, we will have no option," he added.

Earlier today, both the opposition parties staged a protest in the state assembly after which the Speaker had to adjourn the House twice as the opposition members did not relent.

The National Conference and Congress members were joined by independent MLAs Shiekh Abdul Rashid and Hakim Mohammad Yasin.

The MLAs were seen holding placards, which read "Stop exploiting flood victims".

Separate Bills have been moved in the assembly to scrap Section 298-A and 298-B of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) that criminalise the sale and consumption of beef in the state.

The state government has approached the Supreme Court after the Srinagar and Jammu wings of the High Court gave conflicting orders pertaining to the beef ban law.

The Jammu wing of the High Court had on September 8 directed the state police chief to enforce a ban on the sale of beef in the state and take action against those defying the order.

A week later, the Srinagar wing of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court admitted a petition that sought the striking down of the provision of the RPC banning the slaughter of cows.