First day of the Budget session ended without Question Hour with the leader of the opposition Indira Hridayesh demanding debate on NH-74 scam soon after the session commenced. She slammed the State Government for sitting idle on the scam after the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat pompously recommended a CBI probe while addressing the media. With Hridayesh setting the belligerent tone, the Congress members stormed into the well of the House to pressure the Speaker to take up the matter for debate. However, the State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant rejected the demand, insisting that the House could not debate on it with the matter pending before the court. Unsatisfied with the government’s stance, the opposition MlAs started sloganeering, prompting the Speaker to adjourn the House for 15 minutes.
After the House reassembled, the opposition again demanded debate on the matter under section 310 of Vidhan Sabha proceedings. But the Speaker again turned down their demand. Pant said that the investigation involving the NH-74 scam is on with SIT probing it. “The files related to the scam are now being kept under double lock,” he said when the House agreed to discuss the issue under section 58 of the House proceedings.
Earlier, the leader of the opposition tore into the Centre and the State Government, saying that the Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari had shot off a threatening letter to the CM, warning of future projects being scrapped if the CM insisted on CBI probe. “It is clear that the Centre is trying all means to sweep the scam under carpet to shield the guilty. We feel that a comprehensive debate in the House is an imperative as the people think that the Centre is gagging the voice of the state government on the matter,” she said. Taking a dig at the BJP claim that its regime is free from scams, she said that the state government should not be scared for a debate under 310 of the House proceedings.
Pant said that with the state government having made its stand crystal clear, no more query is required to be raised on it. Hridayesh sharply reacted to it, saying that they were throttling the voice of the opposition and defended her party MlAs’ move to storm into the well of the House. She warned that being a responsible opposition, they would not brook any cover -up of the Rs 240 crore scam. She demanded that the attorney general must present the case of the State Government before the Union Government.
The Cabinet Minister Madan Kaushik said that the opposition has changed tacks, deciding to disrupt the session instead of allowing the House to run as they promised earlier. “We want to reiterate again that no fish, big or small, would be spared following the investigation,” he added. The Opposition also raked up the issue of Gairsain being deprived of the chance to house the session besides the matter of curtailed ration of APl and BPl families. Kaushik said that the Opposition is raking up issues which the Congress regime has left as its legacy. “We are disbursing rations to the poor and others will be added to the list of beneficiaries. The previous government had imposed a blanket ban on it,” he said.
Referring to the Gairsain issue, he said that he himself had brought a pledge inside the House which then Congress government chose to reject. “They have thus no moral right to invoke the issue,” Kaushik averred.