After several attempts to meet Speaker of the State Assembly, Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargav finally on Friday succeeded in meeting Speaker NP Prajapati urging him to revoke disqualification of Prahlad Singh Lodhi, whose membership to the Assembly was terminated by the Speaker after Lodhi was punished by the court in an old case.
The High Court later stayed Lodhi’s jail term on his appeal.
Speaker NP Prajapati however stood his ground claiming that the disqualification was not ordered by him and came to force automatically once the court awarded two-year jail term to him.
While talking to media persons after the meeting with LOp Bhargav, Prajapati said he was saddened by allegations of the opposition and urged one and all to maintain the dignity of the constitutional post while affirming that he is impartial in his behaviour to all the MLAs.
Notably, the BJP in the past had accused him of partisan behaviour on Lodhi’s disqualification and alleged that the speaker acted in haste under Congress pressure. “I had acted within the limits of the constitution,” Prajapati told.
He also made it clear that there was no miscommunication while he was in his home constituency to attend a local event.
He also pointed out that all this while some discussions took place which seemed improper about two constitutional authorities including speaker and the governor.
On opposition allegations that he acted in a day after MLA’s conviction and did not act for a week after HC stay, an anguished Prajapati claimed that decision of the MLA wasn’t his decision, as there is clear SC guideline that MLA’s membership gets terminated the moment he/ she is punished with jail term of two or more years.
He rejected charges that he was in a haste saying the court verdict was delivered on 30th and he issued disqualification orders on 2nd offering three days-time and he wasn’t acting in the manner when Chaudhary Rakesh Singh’s membership was decided in six hours and Kalpana Parulekar’s matter was disposed in four hours, in an apparent dig at previous instances when MLA faced hasty action.
Saying that for him all MLAs stand equal, Prajapati claimed that he has no option to act in case any court decides anything which is beyond his limits.
On the contrary, talking to the media persons, Bhargav said that he discussed matter of disqualification of the BJP MLA Prahlad Singh Lodhi and the speaker told him that the HC stay has been challenged in the SC and he is not the applicant in the matter, the State Government is.