Rajasthan Assembly standoff continues over minister's remark against Indira Gandhi

Jaipur, Feb 24 (PTI) The deadlock in the Rajasthan assembly over state minister Avinash Gehlot's remark against former prime minister Indira Gandhi and suspension of six Congress MLAs persisted on Monday, with the House witnessing repeated adjournments.

After three adjournments, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel and others held a meeting with the Congress MLAs to resolve the issue and reached a consensus to end the deadlock.

However when the House met again, the stalemate continued as Speaker Vasudev Devnani and Patel were not satisfied with the response of Congress legislator and PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra.

He said Dotasra should tender an apology for his conduct in the House but the state Congress chief insisted that the minister apologise first.

Expressing dissatisfaction with Dotasra's response, the speaker adjourned the proceedings for a fourth time for 30 minutes.

Prior to this, when the House reassembled after the third adjournment, the Congress MLAs, except six suspended legislators, returned to their seats. The suspended MLAs, including Dotasra, did not enter the House.

Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully said that whatever happened in the House was unfortunate and urged the speaker to give a ruling so that the deadlock could be ended.

Congress MLA Rajendra Pareek said there has been a tradition of dialogue when a deadlock occurs while Patel said the deadlock was not good.

The Speaker then called Dotasra inside the House and asked him to speak on the matter.

Dotasra said whatever happened in the House on Friday after the remark of the cabinet minister against Indira Gandhi was unfortunate and such things should not happen.

Acknowledging that he and other legislators reached the bench in front of the dais of the speaker on Friday, he said the entire episode was regrettable.

However, the Speaker said Dotasra has not expressed apology for his conduct.

The Parliamentary affairs minister also said that Dotasra should say in the House as decided in the meeting and should feel sorry for his conduct.

The Congress MLA said the issue began with the remark of the cabinet minister and he should first feel sorry for his comments and only after that, he will speak.

"I will first listen to what the minister says, only after that, I will say (sorry)," he said.

Patel said Dotasra in the meeting had clearly agreed to express regret but now he was not doing which was an "insult" to the House.

After this, the speaker adjourned the proceedings for 30 minutes.

Earlier, amid slogan shouting by Congress members, the House witnessed three adjournments.

During this, all six suspended MLAs, including Dotasra, were present in the House when the House took up Question Hour.

The speaker asked the suspended members to leave the House but they continued with the protest following which the speaker adjourned the proceedings till 12 noon.

When the House reassembled at 12 noon, the Congress MLAs continued with the protest. The speaker again adjourned the proceedings till 1 pm and called marshals to evict the suspended MLAs from the House.

However, the suspended Congress MLAs refused to leave the House.

When the House reassembled at 1 pm, similar scenes were witnessed following which chairperson Phool Singh adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm.

The Congress MLAs have been holding a sit-in in the House since Friday evening over Gehlot's remark against Indira Gandhi.

During the Question Hour on Friday, the Social Justice and Empowerment minister had pointed to the opposition and said, "In the 2023-24 budget also, like always, you named the scheme (on working women's hostels) after your 'dadi' (grandmother) Indira Gandhi." The remark triggered an uproar in the House, which led to three adjournments and suspension of six Congress MLAs.

Those suspended were Dotasara, Ramkesh Meena, Amin Kagzi, Jakir Hussain, Hakam Ali and Sanjay Kumar.

Demanding an apology from the minister and revocation of the suspension, Congress MLAs began a sit-in in the assembly. PTI SDA DV DV

Source: PTI