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

Jaipur, Feb 25 (PTI) A deadlock in the Rajasthan Assembly over State Minister Avinash Gehlot's remark against former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, continued on Tuesday as six suspended Congress MLAs were not allowed to enter the Assembly.

To support the suspended MLAs, other Congress MLAs also refrained from entering the Assembly and staged a sit-in, raising slogans outside the Assembly premises.

The six Congress MLAs, including PCC Chief Govind Singh Dotasra, Ramkesh Meena, Amin Kagzi, Jakir Hussain, Hakam Ali and Sanjay Kumar were suspended for the remainder of the Budget Session of the Rajasthan Assembly on Friday for "indecent behaviour" in the House.

Meanwhile, the Question Hour inside the House continued amid the Congress boycott.

"The remarks of the minister have still not been removed from the proceedings and the minister has not apologised to date. We still stand by our demand that the remarks be removed and the minister apologize. The House should function smoothly. Due to the internal conflict between the CM, Vasundara Raje, Kirodi Meena, and the Speaker, they want to overshadow the issues of the people of the state,” said state Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra outside the Assembly.

Minister of State for Home Jawahar Singh Bedham told reporters, “Continuous efforts are being made to end the deadlock of the House. Opposition leaders who have become directionless and are creating a deadlock over unnecessary issues should help in running the House.” He added that Congress leaders want to bring their internal conflict into the House.

On Monday, Congress held a protest demanding an apology from the minister and the revocation of the MLA’s suspension.

Rounds of talks were held in the chamber of Speaker Vasudev Devnani to resolve the deadlock, but the issue could not be resolved as the Speaker and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister were not satisfied with the statement made by suspended Congress MLA and PCC Chief Govind Singh Dotasra.

Later, the opposition Congress boycotted the House proceedings for the day. The House witnessed four adjournments.

During the Question Hour on Friday, the Social Justice and Empowerment Minister had pointed to the opposition and said, “In the 2023-24 budget, 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, leading to three adjournments and the suspension of six Congress MLAs. Demanding an apology from the minister and the revocation of the suspension, Congress MLAs began a sit-in in the Assembly.PTI AG ARD ARD

Source: PTI