Kanda haunts Hooda in House

The afternoon assembly proceedings began on a noisy note when Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala objection to the green scarves worn by INLD members that had their party symbol and party name written over them. INLD members staged a brief walkout and when they returned the House was taking up the obituary references. Immediately after the obituary references,Leader of Opposition Om Prakash Chautala made a vociferous demand seeking adjournment of the House on the Kanda issue.

Immediately after the Speaker called for the question hour following obituary references,INLD member Ram Pal Majra started reading a part of the Geetika’s suicide note where she blamed Kanda for the extreme step.

Chautala too got up and asked Speaker Kuldeep Sharma to suspend the question hour and allow the INLD’s adjournment motion on the Kanda issue. However,the Speaker rejected the demand. Unhappy over the turn of events,INLD MLAs led by Ajay Singh Chautala trooped into the Well of the House and flashed some papers purportedly the copies of suicide note of Geetika. The INLD members had heated exchanges with the treasury members on the issue,as majority of the members on both sides were up on their legs.

The Speaker asked BJP member Kavita Jain to read out her question,but her voice was lost in the din. The INLD members also raised slogans in the well of the House forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House for 15 minutes.

As the House re-assembled Chautala said,“I understand chief minister’s weakness in the case,but the House is not…” He was not allowed to complete the sentence as the treasury benches raised a storm over the comment. As the ruckus continued,the Speaker again adjourned the House on two more occasions for a period of 15 minutes each.

After the House re-assembled again,Surjewala pointing to a ruling party MLA,Jaiveer Balmiki,said that a Dalit member has levelled serious allegations of caste-related remark against an Opposition member.

The Speaker then read out the allegations forwarded to him in writing by Balmiki,saying it was a serious matter,and asked INLD’s Abhay Chautala,to respond to the allegations levelled against him by the Dalit member. The Speaker said the allegations also pertained to use of threat against Balmiki,which Abhay should clarify.

Abhay Chautala denied having made any such objectionable or caste-related remark,saying he has full respect for all the elected members and even ten MLAs of his party belonged to the Dalit community.

The Speaker ordered an inquiry into the allegations levelled by Valmiki.

Meanwhile,Om Prakash Chautala told reporters outside the assembly that the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government was scared to have a discussion on burning issues facing the state including that of Kanda,law and order and water and power problem.

“We are frequently interrupted by Congress members inside the House and not allowed to speak. The government knows where it stands and is scared to discuss burning issues,” Chautala alleged.

INLD men walk in wearing party symbol,conceal it after ruckus

The Haryana Assembly witnessed unruly scenes on Friday even before obituary references – conventionally the first thing that the House takes up on the first day of the session – could be taken up.

As the House assembled for the three-day monsoon session,the leaders of the main opposition,Indian National Lok Dal (INLD),walked in sporting black badges and green scarves which had party symbol – spectacles – printed on it. Only INLD president Om Prakash Chautala had not put on the scarf.

As the leaders settled,Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala raised an objection with the Speaker,Kuldeep Sharma. He quoted a legal provision,which prohibits the legislators from wearing party symbols or emblems inside the House.

Heated arguments were witnessed even as Congress legislators insisted that the House can not function till INLD legislators remove their scarves. However,the INLD legislators,led by Shamsher Singh Badhshami,countered the objection asking the Speaker to give a written ruling on the issue. Chautala too pointed out that there was no such provision in the rule book,which governs the procedures of the working and functioning of the House.

“Remove this,you can’t wear any symbol of the party,” the Speaker said,but Chautala remained adamant,saying “We will do this provided you (Speaker) mention under which rule we are being asked to do so”.

To this the Speaker said: “I do not need anybody’s permission for enforcing a rule in the House. Being the Speaker,I can also give a ruling,orally.”

Reacting to this,INLD secretary general Ajay Singh Chautala got up and said,“This is a ploy (of the ruling party) to divert attention from real issues facing the state.”

Surjewala said that it was a matter of shame that INLD members were disrupting the proceedings despite the Speaker’s ruling and not allowing the House to take up the obituary references.

INLD members staged a brief walkout only to walk in after about five minutes. They didn’t remove the scarves but had concealed it under the collars of their shirts in such a way that the party symbol was not visible.