Stating that referring the issue of conducting mock assembly session to the Privileges Committee of the House was unconstitutional,the state Congress on Wednesday said that the party will hold the next mock assembly session in Junagadh on Thursday. The Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly,Shaktisinh Gohil,told mediapersons that Congress members had organised the mock session of the House in the assembly building because the party was not given permission for a two-hour debate on the hooch tragedy,which has claimed over 130 lives . He added that adjournment motions have been moved and the Opposition allowed time for debate on important issues on 27 occasions in the history of Gujarat Assembly. But it is really disappointing that Assembly Speaker Ashok Bhatt had repeatedly rejected the adjournment motion and not allowed the debate. Gohil said that his party had been giving a daily update to Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma and President Pratibha Patil on how Bhatt had been suppressing the voice of the Opposition in the House by not giving time to raise public issues like the hooch tragedy. The Narendra Modi government will have to bear the cost of the suppression of voice of the Opposition, Gohil warned. When asked about his partys future plan of action on the continuing deadlock in the House over the hooch tragedy,Gohil said his party legislators would now be conducting mock session of the Assembly in different cities. The idea behind the mock session is to tell people that the Opposition was not allowed to speak on important public matters in the House and the ruling party went on gagging democracy and silencing the voice of the Opposition by misusing its powers,Gohil said. The mock session,he added,would be held in Junagadh on Thursday. Subsequently,it will be held in Rajkot,Vadodara and other cities till the budget session is over. Congress legislators have been boycotting the assembly proceedings since July 10 in protest against Speaker Bhatts refusal to allow a two-hour debate on the hooch episode.
