Guru resolution tangents: BJP’s cross-voting, Cong’s sex scam

Speaker clashes with Mehbooba, names BJP’s “whip violators”, asks Assembly to wait for HC verdict

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Sep 29: On the third consecutive day of disruption of Business in Legislative Assembly today, ruling Congress party persisted with the tangential issue of the disqualification of certain BJP MLAs even as Speaker maintained that the matter was sub judice and he was barred to take any decision. BJP, on the other hand, launched a counter-offensive while shouting slogans and urging Speaker to also read out names of the Congress legislators who were allegedly involved in the infamous Srinagar Sex Scandal of 2006.

Even after scuttling the hyper-sensitive resolution on Afzal Guru’s mercy with raking up tangential issues in Assembly and engaging the rival BJP in a clash, MLAs and Ministers of the coalition partner did not relent on Thursday. Like yesterday, entire Congress camp greeted Speaker’s arrival with hullabaloo over attendance of the BJP MLAs who had been expelled or suspended by their party over allegedly violating the whip during election for some seats of Legislative Council in April this year.

Acting like an aggressive opposition party, Congress members refused to digest Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone’s repeatedly made argument that the matter was under consideration of J&K High Court. Yet again, Speaker made it clear that he was barred by the status quo order issued by High Court on the petition of some members. The agitating Congress MLAs, throwing the coalition decorum to winds, pressed hard that Speaker could at least read out the names of the MLAs who had been expelled or suspended and thus were accused of violating the party whip. If established, such kind of a violation would lead to disqualification of the accused members under anti-defection law.

As members of the Congress camp, like yesterday, walked into well while shouting anti-BJP slogans and demanding dismissal of the accused MLAs, all eleven BJP members of two factions united to launch counter-offensive. They raised slogans against the Congress and urged Speaker to also read out the names of the MLAs and Ministers of the Congress party who were involved in Srinagar Sex Scandal of 2006. Dy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Minister of School Education Pirzada Sayeed and MLA Dooru, Ghulam Ahmad Mir, appeared to be BJP’s key targets.

As soon as PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and her MLAs joined the ruckus with the complaint that Congress and BJP were “enacting a drama and wasting the precious time of the House”, Speaker diverted to them. He asked Mehbooba and others of her party to take their seats. Soon, the exchange turned hot as Mehbooba began casting aspersions on the chair and Speaker began shouting back on her. “Please sit down. Don’t resort to cheap politics”, Speaker grumbled.

With counter-shouting from Mehbooba, Speaker directed her to shut up and stop her “cheap politics”. He taunted her and others of PDP with being silent all through the proceedings on Wednesday, while suggesting that Ms Mufti’s party had, with its silence, facilitated Congress party’s plan of failing the resolution on Guru. “Look into yourselves. You all are tainted within”, Speaker shouted on the Leader of Opposition. That added fuel to the fire, intensifying the pandemonium and forcing Speaker to announce adjournment for 30 minutes.

When the Business resumed at 10.28 a.m. and Speaker called for replies to questions for remaining two minutes, PDP’s MLA and Deputy Speaker Sartaj Madni took exception to some of Speaker’s remarks shot on Mehbooba in the first sitting. He and his senior colleague Maulvi Iftikhar Ansari insisted that these were “objectionable and unparliamentary remarks” and they pressed hard for Speaker’s apology to the PDP chief.

Speaker contested and asserted that his remarks were directed “on all of us who should look into our within”. He made it emphatically clear that he had neither made any objectionable remarks against Mehbooba nor would he ever apologise. “If anybody still feels that I have made any objectionable remark, I expunge the same”, Speaker said but not to PDP’s satisfaction.

Thereupon, Minister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Mohammad Sagar, defused the crises. He got up to pacify Dy Speaker and apologized to Mehbooba on behalf of Speaker.

Notwithstanding a thaw in the ruckus, Minister of Irrigation & PHE, Taj Mohiuddin, got up to defend his party colleagues and justify their demand. He asserted that there was nothing wrong in revealing the names of the MLAs BJP had either expelled or suspended on account of cross-voting. Finally after a great deal of arguments and counter-arguments, Speaker Akbar Lone disclosed, for the first time in House, that BJP’s national leadership had written to him that Leader of the party in Assembly Prof Chaman Lal Gupta had been expelled from primary membership of the party for six years.

Speaker further revealed that, according to the letter written to him, six more MLAs of the party had been placed under suspension, pending party’s investigation into their role in the alleged cross-voting in violation of the whip issued. He sought to make it clear that it was “not so easy” to ascertain whether or not these MLAs had violated the whip as the voting had happened by secret ballot. He advised members to wait for the verdict of the High Court.

Names of the BJP MLA suspended by the party, as read out by Speaker, included Jagdish Raj Sapolia, Baldev Raj Sharma, Durga Dass, Master Lal Chand, Garu Ram and Bharat Bhushan.

Thereafter, proceedings of the day went on smoothly till the House was closed down on time at 1.30 p.m.

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