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Congress on a walk-out spree in Bhopal

BHOPAL: Congress MLAs, led by the leader of the Opposition, Jamuna Devi, walked out of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly four times on Tuesday.

The main Opposition Congress members staged the first walkout during Question Hour protesting against the removal of the chairman of Gotegaon Krishi Upaj Mandi. They walked out the second time when the House was discussing non-payment of sugarcane procurement dues to the farmers of Gwalior-Chambal division. This issue was brought up through a call attention notice moved by three Congress MLAs, Ramnivas Rawat, Sajjan Singh Verma and Brijendra Singh Rathod.

The third walkout was during a discussion on the issue of communal tension in the Seoni-Malwa area. The matter was taken up through a call attention notice moved by Arif Aqueel and Girijashankar Sharma. The fourth walkout was during a discussion on a call attention notice over illegal cess being collected from farmers on garlic produced by them by Indore Krishi Upaj Mandi.

During Question Hour when a Minister, Chaudhary Chandra Bhan Singh, was answering Congress MLA Jalam Singh’s query about the unveiling of a statue of Rani Avanti Bai at Gotegaon Krishi Upaj Mandi, some Congress MLAs were heard saying that the Krishi Upaj Mandi chairman had been removed as he was a Lodhi and belonged to a Dalit community. Many Congress MLAs stood up and began protesting. In the midst of the din, the Speaker, Ishwardas Rohani, repeatedly kept saying: “Nothing would be recorded.” It was at this juncture that Ms. Jamuna Devi staged a walkout.

Earlier during Zero Hour, the Leader of the Opposition also drew the attention of the House towards the murder of a person in Damoh district. She alleged that those belonging to the ruling party were involved. This was followed by loud protests from the ruling side and some BJP and Congress members were even seen trading charges. The Speaker took a serious view of this and said: “This amounts to lowering the prestige of the House.” He said the members should do a self-appraisal, otherwise the people would not forgive them.

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Congress on a walk-out spree in Bhopal

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