Oppn furore in UP Assembly over Adityanath's remarks; Speaker reserves order

Opposition members in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly today accused Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of using "unparliamentary language" during his speech in the House and demanded expunction of those remarks from proceedings.

Members of the SP, BSP and Congress reached the House with black ribbons tied on their arms to protest the chief minister's comments.

Taking a dig at Opposition parties' bid to strike an understanding ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Adityanath had yesterday said a sort of 'Chipko' movement was underway and those who failed to see a change in law and order were suffering from "vision disorder".

"A sort of 'Chipko' (sticking together) movement is presently underway in the state...The BSP says it maintains distance from the SP...Don't know how much distance they maintain...The snake can never become a mole...it will always bite," the chief minister had told the Legislative Assembly in the absence of joint Opposition which had staged a walkout earlier to protest against various issues.

However, as soon as the House met today, Leader of the Opposition Ram Govind Chowdhury raised the matter and claimed unparliamentary language was used by the chief minister in his reply on the state's supplementary budget yesterday.

SP member Parasnath Yadav said that despite being a 'yogi', the chief minister made such statements which reflected his "inexperience".

Congress Legislature Party leader Ajay Kumar Lallu alleged that political parties and persons were compared with animals by the chief minister which was not in good taste. He demanded the "unparliamentary words should be expunged".

"The statement shows that the chief minister did not have any respect for the opposition members. The language used by him yesterday was unwarranted. The opposition's voice is being gagged by the BJP," he told reporters later.

He also demanded apology from the chief minister.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna, however, maintained that there was nothing unparliamentary in the chief minister's speech.

"You can get the speech examined. There was nothing objectionable or unparliamentary in the CM's speech. Many times comparisons are drawn in an address. No names were taken by the CM," Khanna said in the House.

Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit said he would sit with the minister and discuss the issue and added that "he is reserving his decision on the matter".