SHIMLA, March 2
The Congress on Tuesday staged a walkout from the Himachal Pradesh Assembly seeking the revocation of the suspension of its five MLAs, a demand opposed by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said “manhandling” of the Governor is an “unpardonable” act.
Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri and four other Congress MLAs Harsh Vardhan Chauhan, Satpal Raizada, Sunder Singh and Vinay Kumar were on Friday suspended for the entire Budget session of the Assembly till March 20 after they allegedly manhandled Governor Bandaru Dattatraya.
The alleged incident had taken place outside the Speaker’s office when the Governor was leaving for the Raj Bhawan after he cut short his address in the House following a ruckus on the opening day of the Budget session.
Speaker Vipin Parmar had also lodged a complaint with police in this regard.
On Tuesday, Congress MLA Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu moved a call attention motion in the state Assembly, demanding that the suspension of his party legislators be revoked.
He also denied the charge against his party’s MLAs and claimed that Deputy Speaker Hansraj and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Bhardwaj had manhandled the Congress MLAs on Friday.
Sukhu said if their suspension is not revoked, the proceedings of the House will not be allowed to run.
Reacting to it, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said “manhandling” the Governor is “unbearable and unpardonable”.
Mentioning that no one is above law, Thakur said the entire episode has been captured by several cameras. Thakur said that the Leader of Opposition hit the bonnet of the Governor’s car while the other Congress MLAs shouted “Governor bhag gaya, Governor bhag gaya (Governor has run away, Governor has run away).
The CM said the Congress MLAs also “manhandled” the Governor’s ADC. The incident took place when the Governor’s family members had come to watch the House proceedings and their faces blenched, he added.
