Pandemonimum in Haryana Assembly, House adjourned thrice

Uproarious scenes were witnessed in the Haryana Assembly today which led to the adjournment of the House thrice on issues including land allotment to Yoga guru Ramdev's Patajali Yogpeeth and the Satluj-Yamuna Link canal.
Things took an ugly turn soon after Tourism Minister Ram Bilas Sharma replied to a question raised during the Question Hour by BJP MLA from Kalka, Latika Sharma, who had sought to know regarding government's proposal, if any, to develop Morni area in her constituency into a tourist spot.
The BJP and the Congress indulged in heated exchange after Congress leader Karan Singh Dalal said the government was giving land to Ramdev's Patanjali Yogpeeth for development of a herbal forest at Morni in Panchkula district "without following" due procedures.

Dalal claimed that Ramdev, who was appointed as brand ambassador by the the Manohar Lal Khattar government for promotion of Yoga and Ayurveda, was being extended "undue benefit" by the present regime and costly land in Morni had "been doled out to him".
Health Minister Anil Vij clarified that no land had been transferred to Patanjali Yogpeeth and only an MoU with Patanjali Anusandhan Sansthan Divya Yog Mandir Trust, Haridwar, was signed for developing World Herbal Forest in Morni.
However, Dalal questioned Vij's locus standi in answering the question, with the minister hitting back in an angry tone and asking the Congress member to take his seat.

Vij pointed out that Ramdev was brand ambassador of the state and the herbal forest was being only developed under his guidance, to which a Congress member quipped, "Seth Ramdev kaho (call him Seth Ramdev)".

Dissatisfied with the reply of the ministers, the Congress MLAs started to walk out of the House when state Cooperation Minister Manish Grover passed some remarks, which infuriated them.
The BJP members pointed out that Congress MLA Kuldeep Sharma had used similar words for Vij in the House earlier, but Sharma said he had already expressed regret.
Senior Congress leader and Kaithal MLA Randeep Singh Surjewala, party's state CLP leader Kiran Choudhry, Kuldeep Sharma, Anand Singh Dangi, Karan Singh Dalal, Geeta Bhukkal and other party legislators rushed to the Well of the House on three occasions in protest, asking the Speaker to tell Grover to tender apology.

However, the BJP members attacked Surjewala and the other
Congress MLAs who were present, claiming they were misleading the House.
Surjewala then said he wanted to make a point, but was again interrupted by the ruling party members.
"If ruling benches do not honour the ruling of the Chair and this is the behaviour of Ministers and other ruling party legislators, there cannot be anything more unfortunate," said Surjewala.
Finance Minister Abhimanyu while taking a dig at Surjewala's maiden appearance in the House during the ongoing budget session today, said, "He has come in guest appearance and is now using threatening gestures towards the Chair and raising questions."

Ram Bilas Sharma, also the Parliamentary Affairs minister, said Surjewala was a senior leader and had thought that his presence in the House would lend a new dimension to the proceedings, but if things had taken an ugly turn, the members should ignore and move on.
Surjewala again pleaded before the Chair: "You are the custodian of this House and you have to protect our rights... The minister (Grover) should apologise or else the House cannot run in such a situation."
At this, the BJP members said Surjewala was misleading the House.
As the ruckus continued, Speaker Kanwar Pal told members both from the ruling benches and the opposition not to use unparliamentary language in the House and exercise restraint.

"I urge both ruling and opposition members not to use any unparliamentary word. It does not behove members that I have to expung the remarks later. Both sides, ruling benches and the opposition should exercise restraint. People, who have elected you expect that you will raise issues pertaining to them here in this House, but they too will be disappointed by this situation," the Speaker lamented.
Even as the Speaker announced end of the Question Hour, the ruckus continued.
At this juncture, Leader of Opposition and INLD senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala, who had just walked in, got up and took a dig at Surjewala, saying the presence of the in-charge (communications) of All India Congress Committee (AICC) during release of the party's manifesto for Punjab elections in January showed that he endorses the proposal against the Satluj-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.

Notably, Surjewala had joined other senior leaders of Congress, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, when the election manifesto for the Punjab polls (which were held on February 4) was released in Delhi in January this year.
Chautala claimed that Surjewala was against SYL waters for Haryana and while passing some personal remarks against him, requested the Speaker that such persons "who compromise state's interests be sent out of this august House".
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As the ruckus continued, the Speaker adjourned the House for 20 minutes and called both the ruling and opposition legislators in his chamber for a meeting.

After the 20-minute break, the House was adjourned for another 30 minutes, but when it resumed, the Speaker at the outset urged the members to exercise restraint and not to create ruckus.
He then asked an INLD member to read out his Calling Attention Notice given by him on the issue of cattle smuggling.
Still the INLD legislators were up on their legs and targeting Surjewala.
The Speaker then named the INLD legislators suspending them for the remainder of the day and again adjourned the House for 15 minutes.
Despite the adjournment, the main opposition members continued to occupy seats for nearly 13 minutes and after lot of pleading from the police officers, the House marshals and the Vidhan Sabha staff, they left the House.

Later in the day, on the request of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sharma, the suspension of the INLD legislators was revoked.
Speaking to reporters later outside the Assembly, Chautala said, "The fact that Ram Bilas Sharma is welcoming Surjewala proves that BJP and Congress are hand-in-glove".
"I said that Surjewala should apologise for being part of the manifesto of Punjab, which talks about snatching our rights over SYL water. Instead of acting against him, we were instead Named," Chautala said.
The INLD leader said tomorrow also they will stick to their stance on the issue.
However, outside the Assembly, Surjewala while talking to reporters launched a strong counter attack on Chautala, saying people of Haryana know very well who "compromised the state's interests on water issue".

"It is a well known fact that (INLD patriarch and former Deputy Prime Minister) late Devi Lal opposed the Rajiv-Longowal accord and (former CM) Om Prakash Chautala and other party leaders of his party showed black flags to the Eradi Commission...
"It is also a fact that (jailed INLD leader) Ajay Singh Chautala had said civil war will start if Congress constructs the Hansi-Butana canal, which was to bring water to the parched southern Haryana," Surjewala said.
He justified his presence at the party's manifesto release function for Punjab, saying merely being present where senior leaders including former PM Manmohan Singh were in attendance, does not mean that he had in any way done anything against Haryana's interests.

"Touching any document or a piece of paper (manifesto) does not make me anti-Haryana," he said, adding the Congress has always fought for Haryana's rights on SYL waters.
Surjewala further attacked the Chautalas and said, "Everyone knows they have close family ties with the Badals in family and the two parties even jointly contest the Haryana elections."
He said the Supreme Court had given its verdict in Haryana's favour and now the ball was in the Centre's court to get the canal constructed at the earliest.