The Winter Session of the Arunachal Pradesh legislative Assembly got off to a stormy start with the House passing an impeachment motion against Speaker Nabam Rebia by a voice vote and signature consent of 33 members, including 20 rebel Congress MlAs, 11 of BJP and two Independents, in a vote boycotted by the supporters of Chief Minister Nabam Tuki.
Deputy Speaker presided over the proceedings that saw participation of 34 out of the total 60 members of the House.
Earlier, agitators protested against Governor JP Rajkhowa’s decision to convene the session in Assembly House building at Naharlagun and forced the rival group to hold the session at Techy Takar Community Hall under strict security cover.
In Delhi, Congress continued to disrupt Parliament over Arunachal Pradesh issue even as top leaders called on President Pranab Mukherjee to complain against Governor JP Rajkhowa alleging there are efforts by him to “destabilise” the Congress Government in the State.
“It is clear that the BJP top leadership, in connivance with some dissident Congress MlAs, planned to destabilise the democratically-elected Congress Government in Arunachal Pradesh. This is obviously a pre-planned design involving the highest functionaries of the Central Government,” Sonia told the media at Rashtrapati Bhavan after meeting the President.
The Congress delegation handed over a memorandum to Mukherjee, urging him to preserve the sanctity of the Constitution, the democratic traditions of the country and polity and the rule of law.
The delegation, led by Sonia Gandhi, included party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and senior leaders AK Antony, leader of Congress in the lok Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge, leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, its Deputy leader Anand Sharma and Ahmed Patel.
The problem started on Wednesday morning after a section of the legislators who came to attend the first day of the Winter Session found the Arunachal House sealed and their path blocked by an agitating mob.
The Governor asked the State Chief Secretary to open the gates of the House, but strong resistance by the agitators foiled any such attempt.
Also, the protesters pelted stones at the Assembly House and shouted slogans demanding ouster of Governor JP Rajkhowa leading to scuffle with the security forces.
The security forces later resorted to firing of tear gas shells and blank firing to disperse the crowd.
However, the session was later held at Techy Takar Community Hall with Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Speaker Tenzing Norbu Thongdok in the Speaker’s chair. As many as 21 Congress MlAs, 11 BJP legislators and two Independent legislators took part in the proceedings.
“The first item on the list of House proceeding was impeachment motion against the Speaker Nabam Rebia and the motion was passed on a voice vote,” said one of the legislators, who took part in the session.
Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and other Congress legislators, however, abstained from the session of the House criticising the Governor’s decision to advance the Assembly session.
Speaker of the Arunachal Pradesh legislative Assembly Nabam Rebia, however, termed the action of his deputy TN Thongdok as “unconstitutional, illegal and unprecedented.”
“It’s an interesting development in the history of Arunachal Pradesh, and for the first time in the country we are witnessing such happenings,” said Rebia.