Chhattisgarh Assembly Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal today cautioned the state Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel over his remarks.
The Speaker's ruling in this connection ended the uproar for the past two days of ongoing monsoon session which has so far witnessed suspension of the Congress legislators for four times.
Soon after the question hour, BJP MLA Shivratan Sharma raised the issue of Baghel's statement of Monday, seeking his apology.
Agriculture minister Brijmohan Agrawal and higher education minister Prem Prakash Pandey said it is the constitutional right of the Opposition to bring a no-confidence motion against the speaker but they cannot make derogatory remarks against the chair and sought apology from the Congress leader.
Leader of opposition T S Singhdeo said that treasury bench was trying to avoid a discussion on irregularities in issuance of ration cards by raising this issue.
Agarwal said that Baghel had, on Monday, made a statement while seeking discussion on a notice that "if you (the Speaker) do not give a clear ruling then we don't have confidence in you.
Saying that a remark against the Speaker insults the entire House, Agarwal said that Baghel's remark was a contempt of the chair as well as the the house, and if he did not tender an apology, his remark would stay on the record.
There is no harsher punishment for a public representative than this (his objectionable remarks remaining on the record, for the posterity), he said.
However, Baghel did not tender apology, and uproar followed the speaker's statement. Singhdeo accused the state government of threatening the opposition members for giving notice of resolution of no-confidence motion against the Speaker.
