Raj Assembly deadlock ends after CM intervenes

Jaipur : The nearly weeklong deadlock in the Rajasthan Assembly over state minister Avinash Gehlot’s remark on former prime minister Indira Gandhi ended on Thursday following Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma’s intervention.

The suspension of six Congress MLAs, including its state chief Govind Singh Dotasra, was also revoked after Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully tendered an apology on behalf of the Laxmangarh lawmaker for his conduct towards the speaker. Sharma held a meeting with Speaker Vasudev Devnani and Jully in the speaker’s chamber to break the deadlock. With the impasse ending, Congress legislators entered the House and took part in the proceedings.

Jully thanked Sharma for taking the initiative to break the deadlock. Sharma said such deadlocks, even if they occurred, should not last long. Devnani said Dotasra’s conduct was not worth pardoning but he accepted Jully’s apology.

He described as unfortunate the words Dotasra had used for him and said the leader of the opposition should ensure that he did not conduct himself in such a manner in future. He also gave a ruling that if an MLA reached the speaker’s dais during any future protest, they would be suspended without bringing a proposal. On Devnani’s direction, the government’s chief whip Jogeshwar Garg moved a proposal to revoke the suspension of the six Congress MLAs -- Dotasara, Ramkesh Meena, Amin Kagzi, Jakir Hussain, Hakam Ali and Sanjay Kumar.

The House passed the proposal by voice vote, following which the suspensions were revoked. The opposition members then requested the speaker to call the MLAs whose suspensions were revoked inside the House but the speaker said that it would be done on Friday. After this, Jully began his speech on the state budget. Earlier in the day, Congress MLAs boycotted proceedings and held a mock session outside to protest against Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Avinash Gehlot’s remark against former prime minister Indira Gandhi.