Ruckus in Assam Assembly on Rahul Gandhi disqualification, 3 MLAs suspended

There was commotion in the Assam Assembly on Wednesday as a the Congress sough to introduce an adjournment motion to discuss party leader Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the Lok Sabha as a result of conviction in a defamation case at a Gujarat court.

Following the ruckus between the treasury and opposition bench, Speaker Biswajit Daimary suspended two Congress MLAs and an independent legislator for the day.

As soon as the question hour was over, Daimary gave Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia the opportunity to raise the notice and inquire about the motion's admissibility.

"We want to ask the President of India to uphold the Constitution in a resolution we are sending her. The President must act equitably to defend the Constitution since it applies to everyone," Saikia said.

He claimed that the Constitution was violated in issuing the order of disqualification of Gandhi from the Parliament.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma responded to the motion by saying: "It is unprecedented that we're expressing thoughts on a court case here. I am aware that it was decided to make noise here last night at the Congress Legislature Party meeting."

After Sarma's remark, all of the legislators from the Congress, the AIUDF, the CPI-M, and Independents moved towards the Speaker's podium in protest.

They shouted slogans in favour of Gandhi while the BJP members also rushed to the well and yelled anti-Gandhi chants.

Daimary then called a 15-minute adjournment of the House.

As soon as the House was back in session, Sarma rose to respond, but all of the opposition members protested, claiming "the matter was over".

The Congress MLAs and Independent legislator Akhil Gogoi again moved to the well while holding placards as the Chief Minister insisted on responding.

Gogoi and the others were repeatedly told by Speaker Daimary to return to their seats, but no one complied.

He then suspended Akhil Gogoi and two Congress MLAs Jakir Hussain Sikdar and Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha from the House for the remainder of the day. The three lawmakers were taken away from the House by the marshals.

--IANS

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