BJP MLAs stall proceedings of J&K Assembly over Omar Abdullah’s ‘unparliamentary remarks’

Jammu, Feb 11 (IANS) Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs stalled the proceedings of J&K Legislative Assembly on Wednesday when they stormed into the Well of the House demanding an apology from the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, for what they alleged were his unparliamentary remarks.

Before creating the ruckus, BJP members had staged a walkout from the House and then returned at the end of the Question Hour.

The BJP members said the Chief Minister had left the House when he saw the BJP members entering the Assembly at the end of the walkout.

They gathered in a row and continued chanting slogans against the government seeking apology from the Chief Minister.

However, the Speaker said they cannot raise the issue again after walking out from the House on the issue.

The Speaker ruled that the BJP protest should not be recorded in the House proceedings.

Later, the BJP members stormed into the Well of the House and staged a sit-in.

Earlier, also the House witnessed noisy scenes before the question hour when Sham Lal Sharma of the BJP stood up and asked the chief minister to apologise.

Sharma said such an incident has no precedent in the history of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

“The language used by the chief minister, is not the language that can be used in any Parliament. I want to ask the Leader of the House whether he withdraws the words he used yesterday in this House about the BJP legislative party. If he does not withdraw them, then we leave it to his conscience, what his inner voice tells him, whether the words used in this House were appropriate or not. If the chief minister is not present here, then I leave it to the Chair to make a response. It is your responsibility to say something about this matter,” he said.

Speaker, Abdul Rahim Rather tried to persuade the BJP members to allow the Question Hour to continue and rake up the issue when the Leader of the House is on the floor.

“Whatever happened yesterday (Tuesday) was unfortunate. Let the chief minister come and if he wishes he can make a statement. I can’t make a statement on his behalf,” the Speaker said.

Health Minister Sakeena Itoo accused BJP members of using unparliamentary words as well, particularly against Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary and speaking lies in the House.

Choudhary suggested the chair to examine all the unparliamentary words used from both sides and expunge these from the records to continue the proceedings without any disruption.

Leader of Opposition, BJP MLA, Sunil Sharma opposed the suggestion and refused to budge and later led the walkout, chanting slogans like “derogatory Sarkar Hai Hai, unparliamentary Sarkar Hai Hai, Bharat Mata ki Jai”.

Pandemonium had broken out in the House during Omar Abdullah’s speech yesterday when BJP members objected to some of his remarks against them and demanded an apology.

Omar Abdullah was winding up the discussion on the Union Territory’s Budget presented on February 6 when BJP members termed certain remarks made by him “unparliamentary.”

While the chief minister has ruled out apologising to BJP members for the remarks, saying he was willing to withdraw his words, but was not allowed to speak amid repeated disruptions, Sham Lal Sharma said the party would not allow the House to function until Omar Abdullah tendered an unconditional apology on the floor of the House.

The NC government is supported by 6 Congress MLAs while the opposition is constituted by 29 BJP members, 4 PDP, one PC, 1 AIP and one AAP member.

–IANS

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