All the members of the opposition Congress in the Gujarat assembly were suspended for a day on Tuesday following their protest in the house demanding discussion on drinking water problem of the state.
The Congress MLAs claimed in the house that the situation of drinking water in arid regions like Kutch, Saurashtra and North Gujarat has gone from bad to worse in past few weeks. And, hence the issue was a serious one and needed to be discussed in the assembly. They demanded that the question hour be suspended for discussion on the issue.
The issue was raised as soon as the session began on Tuesday by the leader of the opposition Shankarsinh Vaghela. However, Speaker Vaju Vala rejected their demand for discussion on the issue and said if opposition leader and government in concurrence submit a proposal the discussion could be allowed.
Following Speaker's ruling all Congress MLAs began sloganeering amid thumping of benches, which continued throughout the question hour. Number of Congress legislators came down into the well of the house and sat on the floor creating uproar in the assembly.
Despite attempts by speaker to pacify the opposition members to return to their seats, the Congress MLA did not stop slogan shouting and remained in the well of the house and disrupted the proceedings. Following this speaker Vala suspended the 14 Congress MLA sitting on the floor of the house for a day.
During the entire question hour Congress MLAs kept shouting anti-government slogans like, "give drinking water to the thirsty people" and also thumped the desks. Some members even tore question booklet into the pieces and threw it on the floor of the house.
With only few minutes remaining for the question hour all remaining Congress MLAs rushed to the well of the house in protest and sat on the floor.
The speaker objected to the move by Congress and suspended all Congress members for the day from the house and ordered marshals to lead the members out of the house.
After the question hour was over finance minister Nitin Patel, condemned the behaviour of the Congress MLAs and termed it as 'belittling' the prestige of the esteemed house. However, he requested the speaker to revoke his suspension order for all Congress members.
Speaker rejected that request and held that his ruling of suspension was against the indiscipline shown by the members of Congress party. "My decision to suspend them was not on anyone's proposal. The decision of suspension was suo motu for indiscipline," speaker told Patel.
Coming out of the house Leader of Opposition Shankarsinh Vaghela claimed that state government has shown no sensitivity on the problem of drinking water the people were facing in the state.
"Since the beginning of this Assembly session we have sent almost 17 requests to the office of the Speaker, under different rules of the house, seeking discussion in the house on deteriorating drinking water situation. But government has steadfastly refused to agree," he alleged.
Showing a written reply to one of the notice given by Congress MLA from Talala Jasu Barad, Vaghela said that, "Speaker's office rejected the demand for a discussion on the grounds that concerned minister has no time for it."
