Gujarat assembly admits no-confidence motion against Speaker

The Gujarat Assembly on Thursday admitted a no confidence motion, brought by the opposition Congress, against Speaker Rajendra Trivedi for suspending its two legislators for three years and another for a year.

The proposal, which was moved by Deputy Leader of Opposition Shailesh Parmar and supported by the entire Opposition, including Independent Jignesh Mevani, would come up for discussion and vote in the next seven working days.

The no-trust motion was moved on February 28, less than 10 days of Trivedi taking over as Speaker of the 14th Legislative Assembly.

The first session, also the budget session of the new government, chaired by Trivedi, had seen several disruptions and protests by the Opposition on more than one issue. It even saw a physical assault by a Congress legislator Pratap Dudhat on a BJP lawmaker on March 14. Besides Dudhat, Amrish Der was suspended for three years, while the party's Baldev Thakore was suspended for a year.

This provoked the Opposition to move the no-confidence motion against the Speaker. Trivedi even ruled against the entry of these three legislators in the premises of Assembly. On an earlier occasion, the Speaker even ordered the assembly staff to switch off Mevani's microphone.

"We know that we will not be able to remove the Speaker for want of adequate numbers in the House. However, we would be able to raise questions on the Speaker's neutrality and functioning during the discussion," said Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani.

--IANS

desai/vd