Uttarakhand Assembly drowns in din

BJP today paralysed the proceedings in Uttarakhand Assembly for second day running, protesting the delay in withdrawal of a case of rioting against one of its MLAs.
The main Opposition party forced adjournment of the House for four hours, saying case against absconding Rudrapur MLA Rajkumar Thukral should be withdrawn.
No sooner than the House assembled, opposition MLAs led by Leader of Opposition Ajay Bhatt were on their feet accusing the state government of backing out of its promise of finding a solution to the issue by Thursday evening.
Alleging that the promise made by the Leader of the House Harish Rawat yesterday of finding a legally correct solution to the problem had been breached, opposition MLAs rushed into the well of the House with BJP legislator Ganesh Joshi climbing on to the Assembly Secretary's desk close to the Chair shouting anti-government slogans.

As they refused to calm down despite repeated appeals by the Speaker, the House was adjourned for 40 minutes at 11:05 AM. However, at 11:45 AM the adjournment was extended till 12:20 PM.
As opposition members staged a sit-in inside Vidhan Sabha lobby insisting on their demand the adjournment was extended again till 1 PM and then till 3 PM.

Rawat who recently took over the reigns of power in Uttarakhand had assured opposition members of a legally correct solution to the problem by the evening.
"Protecting the honour and dignity of a member is not just the responsibility of the opposition but ours too," Rawat had said.

This had calmed the opposition members with Bhatt saying they had no reason not to believe in the assurance given by the Leader of the House.
However, as nothing came out of Rawat's assurance made on the floor of the House, the BJP members went back to disrupting proceedings of the Assembly in protest.
On the run for months after issuance of an arrest warrant against him in connection with communal riots in Rudrapur in 2011, Thukral has been declared an absconder and his property has been attached.
Police have also announced a reward of Rs 2,500 on information leading to his arrest.

Riots erupted in Rudrapur in 2011 after torn pages of a holy book were found outside a place of worship in the town, killing four and injuring over 60 others.