Madhya Pradesh: MLAs make House their home

Assembly Speaker Sitasharan Sharma had ended a one-day session called to pass the supplementary budget on Tuesday but the Congress MLAs would not leave the well, insisting that they were not satisfied with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s reply.

The BJP’s MLAs stayed in the House till late on Tuesday, with the Speaker and Legislative Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra pleading with the Congress legislators, and finally left when the latter refused to end their sit-in. Instead, arrangements were made for supplying food and bedding. Some of the protesting MLAs said on Thursday they have also started fasting in support of their demands.

With the protests continuing on Wednesday and Thursday, the Assembly Secretariat has since denied entry to journalists, saying they had been permitted in only for a day to cover the session.

Leader of the Opposition Katare told The Indian Express that the protest will continue till the government provides adequate relief to farmers whose crops were affected by unseasonal rains and hailstorms, stops recovery of electricity dues from farmers who have only a single-phase connection, and gives a bonus of Rs 150 over and above the minimum support price to wheat growers. The party has also demanded a waiver of interest on crop loans and immediate suspension of loan recovery.

Katare said though the present protest related only to farmer issues, the party will soon club the MPPEB scam with these.

Speaker Sitasharan Sharma told The Indian Express that the Congress had turned the assembly premises into a protest site, which violates assembly rules. “The demands raised by them have nothing to do with the assembly (it relates to the government). It seems they don’t believe in the institutions of democracy,” Sharma said. “We won’t use force as far as possible because the situation has not come to such a pass.” He added he has pleaded with the protesting MLAs three times but they have not relented.

While the MLAs are protesting inside, Pradesh Congress Committee chief Arun Yadav demonstrated outside the assembly premises on Thursday. Party activists burned effigies of the chief minister. Some youths affected by the MPPEB scam had joined the Congress protest outside the assembly premises on Wednesday.

Two days ago, the assembly secretariat had refused permission to AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh to hold a press conference inside the assembly, after which he spoke to the media outside. Earlier, the former chief minister had addressed the media on the MPPEB scam.

It is the first time in MP’s legislative history that the assembly well has been occupied for so long after a session has ended. When the BJP was in opposition, it had occupied the well for a night but the House was in session then.

“We ended the protest the next morning and were back to attend the following day’s proceedings,’’ said Sharma. He added the BJP legislators had slept on benches, unlike the Congress MLAs who have been provided bedding. “They should debate inside the assembly and raise slogans outside. They are doing the opposite,” the Speaker said.