The Himachal Pradesh Assembly today saw uproarious scenes over the alleged "bonded labour" remarks made by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, with BJP MLAs disrupting the Question Hour and then staging a walkout.
An soon as the session began, BJP MLAs, about a dozen of them wearing aprons with caricatures highlighting corruption in the state, started shouting slogans against the Chief Minister for his reported "bonded labour" remarks.
Although the Chief Minister said that he had made no such remarks, the BJP MLAs were unrelenting and urged the Speaker to take suo motu notice of the remarks, and staged a walkout a few minutes before the Question Hour ended.
The BJP members stayed away from the House for rest of the day, and did not participate in discussion on motion of thanks on the Governor's address.
Repeated requests of Speaker B B L Butail to the BJP members fail to pacify them. The Speaker even warned them that he might be forced to take some action if they continued to obstruct the proceedings.
"I will take action against you if you have violated norms," the Speaker said, adding that the members cannot hold any placards, banners as per Rule 299 of state assembly.
Later, the Chief Minister objected to slogan-raising by BJP MLAs. Some remarks of BJP members were expunged by the Speaker following request from the Chief Minister.
Singh said heated exchanges and protests were part of parliamentary democracy and "everybody has a right to do so, but in a civilised manner". "I condemn the behaviour of BJP members who are conspiring everyday to disrupt the assembly as a political strategy," he said.
He said the BJP members even boycotted a dinner hosted by the Governor yesterday. "This proves that they are frustrated and trying to derive political mileage out of it," he alleged.
Alleging that Opposition leader P K Dhumal's family members were facing corruption charges, the Chief Minister said that it had become a compulsion for them to disrupt the House as a probe into various wrongdoings of the previous BJP regime was progressing.
"But the law will take its own course," the Chief Minister added.
