Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker suspends 15 Congress MLAs for ‘unruly behaviour’

Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan suspended 15 Congress legislators for a day from attending the House proceedings after they created a ruckus and two of them climbed on the assembly secretary’s table protesting her decision to turn down a breach of privilege motion moved by the opposition party on Tuesday, the second day of the budget session. The speaker then adjourned the day’s proceedings till 3pm.

“If members had any kind of problem regarding the decision, it could be resolved by communication. Climbing the secretary’s table and trying to come close to the Chair, it’s a serious and unacceptable issue. This kind of unruly behaviour is not at all correct,” Khanduri later told reporters, referring to Congress MLAs Adesh Chauhan Piran Kaliyar Furqan Ahmad, who climbed Vidhan Sabha secretary Hem Pant’s table during the ruckus.

Chauhan had moved a privilege motion against Udham Singh Nagar senior superintendent of police (SSP).

The Speaker turned down the privilege motion on the basis of a report submitted to her by the state government.

The second day of the budget session began on a stormy note with the Opposition demanding a discussion from Speaker Khanduri under rule 310 (adjournment motion) on unemployment and lathi-charge on protesting youth in Dehradun on February 9.

The Speaker allowed hearing on the matter under Rule 58 and the question hour began.

The Congress legislators tried to corner the government during the question hour and expressed dissatisfaction with the replies by PWD and tourism minister Satpal Maharaj.

On a question over Tehri Dam at around 11:20 am, the Congress legislators came into the well of the House and raised slogans. Speaker Khanduri asked the MLAs to sit on their seats and said the MLAs were disrespecting her decision to proceed to the next question.

Before the proceedings that began at 11 am, the Congress legislators staged a protest holding sugarcanes and raised slogans outside the assembly against the state government for allegedly neglecting the sugarcane farmers and not increasing its minimum support price (MSP).

The opposition party had staged protests inside and outside the Vidhan Sabha on the inaugural day of the budget session over a wide range of issues including alleged recruitment scams and CBI investigation into them, corruption, unemployment, lathi-charge on protesting youth on February 9 in Dehradun, inflation, Pauri Garhwal receptionist murder case, deteriorating law and order, and neglect of land subsidence hit Joshimath and Gairsan.

Khatima MLA and deputy leader of Opposition Bhuwan Chandra Kapri said, “The Pushkar Singh-led state government is neglecting farmers by not increasing the sugarcane MSP. Even today the Uttarakhand government follows the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision. If the government in the neighbouring state increases sugarcane MSP, our government then says they will think about it. No pending payments of sugarcane farmers have been cleared. It’s an anti-farmer government.”

State Congress spokesperson Garima Mehra Dasauni said, “It’s a murder of the Constitution. The elected representatives are being barred from raising their voice in the House.”

Finance minister Prem Chand Aggarwal tabled the Uttarakhand Competitive Examinations (Measures for Prevention and Redressal of Unfair Means in Recruitment) ordinance 2023 in the House. Aggarwal also tabled the Economic Survey 2022-23 in the House.