Apparently intrigued by the Opposition remaining generally calm during the ongoing Budget session of the Assembly, Parliamentary affairs minister Indira Hridayesh sought to provoke them, said the BJP leaders, adding that they would not be entrapped despite provocations being thrown at them. The saffron MlAs said they would not allow the Treasury bench to run away from the session, making BJP a scapegoat.
As the Question Hour ended the leader of the Opposition Ajay Bhatt demanded debate on the deteriorating law and order situation under 310 of Vidhan Sabha proceedings. Hridayesh who had looked upset in the initial days of the session apparently because of her worsening equations with the Chief Minister, was seen pro-active on Tuesday. Turning to the Speaker, she said the Opposition should have been asked to give notice under 310 at 9.30 am, the right time, instead of during Zero Hour as was often happening.
The Opposition remained cool while insisting on the rules of Vidhan Sabha proceedings being conformed to.
Hridayesh then cited a video clipping that showed MlA Ganesh Joshi beating the mounted police horse and sought apology from the saffron camp. “It exposed the true colour of the party,” she said in an obvious bid to charge the BJP camp into creating ruckus. Bhatt was found maintaining his cool and waved a CD which he claimed as the unedited one. “It is clear that Joshi was just brandishing a cane on the road to push back the mounted police,” he said. Hridayesh refusing to accept Bhatt’s version of things made the Opposition erupt in resentment. Amidst the uproarious scene, the Speaker asked the Treasury bench to complete the business left for the day.
Bhatt was found calming his colleagues down. He said the Treasury bench was out to skip the day’s business while putting the onus of the disruption on them.
Observers say that once bitten twice shy, the BJP brigade in the Assembly was wary of getting ensnared into the trap sought to be laid for them by the Treasury bench. “During the Budget session-2015-16, they swallowed the bait offered by wily Hridayesh and enacted the role as scripted by her. This time, they are extra cautious. They have been exercising self-restraint, something that is foiling the ruling party’s ploy to have things disrupted at the behest of BJP,” one of the observers said.