Congressmen today staged a dharna on the last day of filing nomination to the November 19 bypoll to Hayuliang constituency protesting against the Arunachal Pradesh government's alleged "deliberate attempt" to curtail the democratic right of a candidate by not yet giving its approval to the Congress nominee's VRS request.
The party also submitted representation to the Election Commission for its intervention on this issue.
Hundreds of Congressmen led by Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) President Padi Richo, holding placards and banners, staged the dharna in front of the state civil secretariat in the morning accusing the Peoples' Party of Arunachal (PPA)-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) government of curtailing the democratic right of a candidate.
Public Health Engineering and Water Supply (PHE&WS) department chief engineer Lapalum Kri, who is official candidate of Congress for the bypoll, had applied for Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) on September 5 last but till date the state government was yet to give its nod, the party alleged.
Richo said that the Congress high command had approved the candidature of Kri and accordingly he had applied for VRS on September 5 last requesting the state government to accept it with effect from September 30.
"Surprisingly, the state government is yet to approve the VRS of Kri, in spite of getting all clearances including vigilance. On the other hand, resignation of Dasanglu Tulang Pul, the NEDA candidate contesting on BJP ticket, who is a government employee working as WC Meter Reader in the power department was readily accepted by the government," Richo alleged.
Today being the last date of filing nominations, the party has served an ultimatum to the state chief secretary to accept the resignation of Kri and threatened to organise hunger strike for two days from tomorrow at Indira Gandhi Park here.
In his reply, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister
T B Jayachandra chose to respond first on the Tipu Jayanti controversy leading to heated exchange between the opposition and treasury benches.
He said, "BJP is a party which observes black day on the day we celebrate a national hero like Tipu."
BJP's K G Bopaiah said Tipu was not a national hero, but a "religious fanatic", leading to a war of words.
Hitting out at BJP, Jayachandra said BJP was a "communal party" and had no secular credentials.
Accusing the government of trying to divert the issue, BJP members demanded that Sait be removed and walked into the Well of the House. As chaos continued, Kimmane Rathnakar who was in the Chair adjourned the House for ten minutes.
As the House resumed, BJP continued its dharna from the Well shouting slogans "sack Tanvir Sait", to which Congress responded by shouting "anti-minority BJP".
When repeated attempts by the Chair to bring normalcy in the House failed, it was adjourned till tomorrow.
BJP leaders have said that they will continue their protest in the House tomorrow as well.
