Chaos in J'khand assembly as BJP MLAs demand LoP designation

Noisy scenes were witnessed in the Jharkhand assembly on Thursday over the delay in designating Babulal Marandi, who was elected the leader of the BJP legislature party recently, as the Leader of Opposition.

Marandi had merged his Jharkhand Vikas Morcha - Prajatantrik (JVM-P) with the BJP last month and was elected the leader of the saffron party's legislature group. However, Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto has still not designated Marandi, the first chief minister of the state, as the Leader of Opposition.

BJP MLAs have been disrupting the proceedings of the House on the issue since Saturday last.

As the protests continued, Chief Minister Hemant Soren suggested the BJP MLAs choose a Leader of Opposition (LoP) among them till the issue was addressed, triggering further chaos.

"the subject is under consideration before the speaker and you choose among yourselves Leader of Opposition till then," Soren said in the second half after the first session was washed out as the BJP members continued demanding "justice".

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Alamgir Alam referred to the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution that underlines provisions as to disqualification on the ground of defection.

The speaker asked the BJP members to have "patience" and said that a decision on the matter would be taken.

"How can I work if you become a hurdle on the path of justice?" he asked.

In the first half, the BJP MLAs demonstrated in the House with banners, reading "early recognition of LoP", "stop the murder of democracy" and "protect the Constitution".

BJP members Bhanu Pratap Sahi and Neelkanth Singh Munda also demanded suspension of Congress MLA Irfan Ansari for his alleged controversial remarks outside the House over the protests by saffron party MLAs.

Sahi and Munda said the remarks, which were published in a local newspaper, had hurt not only the legislators but also the people they represent.

Ansari sought to clarify his position and the speaker urged the opposition members to allow the Congress MLA to speak.

"I will not go by a newspaper (report). Give him an opportunity to express and if you are not satisfied with it, we will ponder over it," the speaker said.

As the opposition members intensified protests, the speaker adjourned the House till 2 pm just after half-an-hour into the first half.

Marandi was not in the House during the day.