The Madhya Pradesh Assembly removed the name of Bollywood diva Sridevi from the list of the deceased personalities who were paid tributes in the House today.
The 54-year-old actress, who died in Dubai on Sunday, had initially figured in the list, but her name was dropped at the last minute, apparently because her body had not arrived in India by then.
"Her name did figure in the last evening's first list of business to be taken up today. However, her name did not appear alongside late actor Shashi Kapoor in the second list of business," Assembly Principal Secretary A P Singh told PTI.
"The name of the actress was dropped as her body is yet to be flown back to Mumbai from Dubai," Singh contended, adding, "It was just a coincidence. Nothing more should be read into her name being deleted from the list."
"It was decided that the House would pay tributes to her along with Shashi Kapoor later as the budget session will continue for over a month. It is the prerogative of the Chair. Assembly Speaker Sitasharan Sharma has taken a call on the issue," he said.
Earlier, the Assembly was adjourned for the day after paying tributes to the four Army personnel killed in Pakistani shelling along the LoC in Rajouri recently and to former MLAs who died recently.
One of the jawans, Ram Awatar, killed in the shelling, hailed from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.
Besides them, Sitasharan Sharma also mentioned the death of former Speaker Shriniwas Tiwari and ex-MLAs Suresh Seth, Puran Singh Bedia, Tatulal Ahirwar and Keshar Bai Damar, among others.
The Budget session of the Assembly commenced yesterday.
Tomorrow, finance Minister Jayant Malaiya would present the last budget of the BJP government, before the state goes to polls later this year.
During his address, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan recited some verses from scriptures to pay tributes to the martyred jawans.
Condoling the death of Shriniwas Tiwari, the chief minister described him as an influential leader from the Vindhya region.
Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh of the Congress, Deputy Speaker Rajendra Singh, BJP MLAs Girish Gautam and Sheela Tyagi also recalled the contributions of the departed leaders.
The House was adjourned after observing a two-minute silence as a mark of respect to them.
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