Gujarat Governor O P Kohli had to cut short his speech on the first day of the Budget Session of the state Assembly, as Congress MLAs rushed to the Well of the House demanding discussion on various issues, including the death of a Dalit activist.
Congress legislators, who came prepared with placards, engaged in sloganeering as soon as Kohli mentioned "Sauno Saath Sauno Vikas" (all together, growth for all) while reading out the address.
Taking a strong objection, opposition legislators, led by Virji Thumar, shouted slogans against the ruling BJP over the issue of water crisis, farmers issues and death of dalit activist Bhanubhai Vankar two days back.
As the governor continued his speech amid the chaos and sloganeering, Congress MLAs rushed to the Well.
Thumar, who reached close to the Governor, also demanded a discussion on the Justice M B Shah Commission report, tabled in the previous Budget session.
Due to the chaos, the governor curtailed his speech and left the House. When he was being escorted out, Thumar followed him and vehemently pressed for his party's demand for discussion. This even led to a verbal exchange between him and the security personnel.
While talking to reporters later, Thumar said the slogan mentioned by Kohli, was of the BJP and it should not have been a part of Kohli's speech.
"While the entire speech by the governor was in English, he said 'Sauno Saath Sauno Vikas' in Gujarati. This is a slogan of the BJP. Why wasn't that said in English?" said Thumar.
"We told the governor to allow discussion on M B Shah Commission report and many other issues, such as self immolation by a Dalit in Patan, water crisis and very less MSP being offered to the farmers. But, the governor did not listened to us" he said.
Justice M B Shah Commission gave a 'clean chit' to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 allegations of corruption levelled by Congress, when he was the chief minister of Gujarat.
The first and second reports of the commission were tabled in the state assembly on the last day of the budget session last year.
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