Buoyant by the success of its anti-government demonstration, the Congress stalled proceedings of the Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday forcing the government to pass the supplementary budget amid din.
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who is also Finance Minister, and parliamentary Affairs Minister Azam Khan were absent when the budget along with appropriation bills was passed.
It was the second day in a row when proceedings of the House were washed out because of the ruckus created by the opposition. “We will not allow the proceedings of the House to continue till government orders a judicial probe into the lathicharge in which many senior leaders were injured. It was brutal attack on the peaceful demonstration of Congress leaders,” Congress legislature Party leader Pradeep Mathur said as Congress members raised anti-government slogans.
Earlier, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Azam Khan had said that there was no lathicharge on Congress leaders and the members were making false allegations. "None of the MlAs protesting here received injuries. I believe they must have led that protest. If police had used force against Congress leaders, how they were spared and had not received injuries,” he asked.
The Speaker too chipped in saying: “In the morning, I inquired from Congress MlA Bansi Paharia whether he was all right. He informed me that he was not injured because he cleverly moved away from the place where police were using force.”
As soon as the House assembled, Congress members, wearing black bands, entered the well of the House raising anti-government slogans. Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey requested the members to go back but they refused to relent. They squatted on the floor of the well forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House within three minutes. He suspended the Question Hour.
The Congress protest continued when House re-assembled. The House was against adjourned twice and when it finally re-assembled at 1 pm. The Speaker asked the government to rush through the agenda. The supplementary grant to the tune of Rs 19, 824.98 crore was passed without any discussion.