The Treasury bench members on Wednesday made a series of attacks on Opposition members over the issue of expelled Congress MlA Amit Jogi’s sitting arrangement in the Chhattisgarh Assembly as well as his membership.
To get his position made clear from Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal, whether he is the member of Congress legislative Party (ClP) or not, Jogi raised a ‘Point of Order’ during the zero hour which was immediately hijacked by members of Treasury benches to target leader of Opposition TS Singhdeo.
Citing the letter submitted by Singhdeo regarding sitting arrangement of Jogi, legislative Affairs Minister Ajay Chandrakar also raised a ‘Point of Order’ and said the incident is first of its own kind where a member of the Assembly personally stands to know about his sitting arrangement.
Supporting Chandrakar, Revenue Minister Prem Prakash Pandey said that the current sitting arrangement indicates that Jogi is still a member of the Congress party.
He further added that the move of ClP leader tends to ‘Temptation of the Duty of Parliament’ and also termed it as breach of the House’s privilege. There is no such situation that has surfaced in the House that prompted to change Jogi’s sitting position. Based on incidents that took outside of the House, sitting position of the member cannot be changed. Change in sitting arrangement is going to affect the proceedings of the House, Pandey said.
MlA Amit Jogi has been expelled from the Congress party for a period of six years, said leader of Opposition TS Singhdeo.
Singhdeo further clarified that Jogi has made an appeal to AICC and decision in this connection is pending. As the decision pertaining to Jogi’s expulsion is pending and no instruction from the party high command has been received in this regard, the MlA will remain expelled from the Congress party and this is the only reason which prompted him to recommend change in his sitting arrangement.
Subsequently, citing the ruling of the Apex Court, BJP member Shivratan Sharma said even after the expulsion from the party, the member continues to remain member of legislative Committee in the House.
Making his stand, Amit Jogi said sitting arrangement hardly matters to him and no one can stop him to raise his voice in interest of the masses and he just wants to get his position clear in the party’s legislative Committee. Quoting a ruling of the Supreme Court, he said the Apex court has earlier ruled that a legislator cannot be subjected to the whims of party’s leadership.
Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal said that as the sitting arrangement has been made according to the suggestion of leader of Opposition as per the House’s existing tradition, the issue of breach of privilege does not stand as the issue of Jogi’s suspension is under consideration and he will later give ruling in this regard.