Congress MLAs suspended after ruckus over alleged land deal

Over 50 Congress MLAs were today suspended for a day by the Gujarat Assembly Speaker for creating ruckus in the House over the issue of alleged allotment of land near Gir Lion Sanctuary at a cheaper rate to the business partners of Chief Minister Anandiben Patel's daughter Anar.
The issue today cropped up during Question Hour, when Congress MLA Mahendrasinh Baraiya sought clarification from the Speaker Ganpat Vasava for not taking up his resolution for discussion in the assembly.
Vasava refused to grant him any relief, saying that the resolution, which was about preservation of ecology near Gir sanctuary, touches a sub-judice matter and cannot be discussed in the House as per the set traditions.

On this, all the 50-odd Congress MLAs, who came prepared with placards, rushed into the well and demanded resignation of the CM and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the alleged allotment was given a go ahead when Modi was CM here while Patel was Revenue Minister in 2010.
As the slogan chanting against BJP-government and its leaders did not stop even after repeated warnings from Vasava, he eventually suspended all those who were in the Well. As they refused to leave, Vasava also called in sergeants to evict some of them forcefully.
Though some senior Congress MLAs, such as Shaktisinh Gohil and Mohansinh Rathva, were not suspended as they had remained on their seat, they also left the House in protest.

While addressing media outside the Assembly, Gohil shared the copies of Baraiya's resolution to prove that their MLA has not mentioned anything about that particular land deal involving Anar Patel, which was rejected yesterday.

"In the entire resolution, Baraiya only raised general
points related to preserving ecology near Gir Sanctuary, the last abode of Asiatic Lions. However, the resolution was removed at the behest of BJP government to save their leaders," said Gohil.
According to him, though a PIL has been filed in the High Court about this particular land deal, it should not stop the Assembly from discussing it.

"A former speaker very clearly stated in his past order that even sub-judice matter can be discussed in the House. But, just to save their leaders, the resolution was removed and we were thrown out of the House to stop us from exposing corruption of this government," said Gohil.