Assam Speaker suspends 6 BJP MLAs, 9 Congress rebels for disobeying his ruling

Guwahati: Six BJP MLAs and nine from Congress, who had recently declared their allegiance to the opposition party, were on Monday suspended from Assam Assembly for the 5-day Winter Session by Speaker Pranab Gogoi for disobeying his ruling and creating noisy scenes.

Just before the beginning of the Question Hour on the first day of the session, the Speaker gave the ruling that all the BJP members and those from Congress supporting it, have been suspended from the House for the entire Winter Session.

BJP has six MLAs and nine Congress MLAs recently announced their decision to join the party. All of them were suspended. The strength of the Assembly is 126.

Earlier, when the House assembled, BJP MLA Jadav Chandra Deka demanded scrapping of the Question Hour and holding of a discussion on the "deteriorating law and order situation" in the state.

"The law and order situation is deteriorating day by day. Hindi-speaking people are being tortured and Jehadi activities are on the rise. Allow us to discuss the issues by today itself," Deka said.

When the Speaker did not accept his demand, all BJP MLAs stood up and shouted in support of their demand. Immediately, all Congress MLAs, including the ministers, countered the opposition demand by shouting back.

The BJP MLAs then rushed to the Well of the House and pressed the Speaker with their demand. They were joined by the Congress MLAs, who had recently declared their allegiance to the opposition party but had not resigned from the ruling party.

Thereafter, ll Congress MLAs also rushed to the Well and shouted slogans against BJP, leading to a face-off between the members.

With no signs of cooling of frayed tempers, the Speaker called the Marshals, who took the BJP MLAs out of the House, and announced his decision to suspend the members for the Winter Session period. Congress MLAs then returned to their seats and normal business began.

Outside the House, the expelled BJP members shouted slogans against the state government and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who holds the Home portfolio.

The opposition members also demanded immediate resignation of the Chief Minister for failing to improve the law and order situation in the state.

However, the Congress MLAs, supporting BJP, have not formally resigned forcing the ruling party to seek termination of their membership just before the start of the Winter Session.

After the Question Hour ended on Monday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rockybul Hussain again demanded action against the nine Congress members.

"Some of our MLAs walked out with BJP members and they have not resigned from the party. It proves that they have defected. There are many recommendations against defection in India. I request you to take action against them accordingly," Hussain told the Speaker.

On this, the Speaker said, "I will take action as per rules."