Speaker faces no-trust

GANDHINAGAR, March 4: Even as the deadlock persists over the issue of suspension of three Congress MLAs from the House, the opposition me...

GANDHINAGAR, March 4: Even as the deadlock persists over the issue of suspension of three Congress MLAs from the House, the opposition members have started mounting pressure on the legislature party leadership to bring a no-confidence motion against Speaker Dhirubhai Shah in the House.

At a Congress Legislature Party CLP meeting here on Thursday, a majority of the party members, apparently feeling frustrated at the persisting deadlock, were of the view that 8220;enough is enough8221;.

The no-confidence motion is being seen as a clever move by a section of vociferous Congress legislators. If the motion is admitted, the opposition will force the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for a discussion. This help them to place on the House records of whatever happened on that fateful day that led to their suspension.

8220;Since the ruling party seems to have hatched a conspiracy to keep us away from the proceedings of the budget session, we have no other option but to bring a no-confidence motion against the Speaker,8221; a senior member charged at the CLP meeting. The support of minimum 17 members is required to move such a motion in the House.

Yet another round of talks between leaders of both the ruling and opposition parties was held at the Speaker8217;s chamber today, but the leaders failed to break the ice on the contentious issue of revoking the suspension of three Congress MLAs Naresh Raval, Udesinh Baria and Khumansinh Chauhan.

Leader of the Opposition Amarsinh Chaudhary, deputy leader Manubhai Parmar and Congress chief whip Naresh Raval and BJP chief whip Bharat Barot were present.

Another round of negotiations is scheduled to be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday between Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel and CLP leader Amarsinh Chaudhary, in which Congress deputy leader Manubhai Parmar and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Mehta will also participate.

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The ruling party has stuck to its earlier stand that first the opposition members should come to the House and then the suspension of the three opposition MLAs may be revoked.

The three had been suspended for the entire session on February 24 last for 8220;creating violent scenes8221; in the House and misbehaving with the Chair that day. Along with them, about 50 other opposition members had been suspended for three days.

Though the three-day period is over, the opposition members have continued to stay away from the House to press their demand that the suspension of the three legislators be revoked. 8220;We are hopeful about some amicable solution to the issue during yet another round of talks tomorrow,8221; Chaudhary told Express Newsline.