The BJP and Congress members traded charges against each other over the way the Assembly was adjourned sine die and the Budget was passed without any discussion.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra told reporters in the Assembly premises that it was not for the first time that guillotine had been applied to pass the Budget. Earlier also, it had been done on April 20, 1978, April 4, 1983 and March 21, 2001, he said.
Blaming the Opposition for the situation, he said they were misusing the forum of the State Assembly to malign Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in connection with the MPPEB scam. “The opposition was indulging in 'character assassination' of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan," he alleged.
To a query, Mishra said there was no pre-planned strategy to create uproar in the House and to get it adjourned sine die. He clearly rejected that today's sequence of events were orchestrated at the CM's house last night.
On the other hand, Congress member Ramniwas Rawat termed it as ‘black day’ in the history of MP Assembly. “Never in the past had the ruling party guillotined the Budget in such a brutal and ruthless manner. It was totally undemocratic. They could not defend themselves in the Assembly and that is why they indulged in such undemocratic act to end the House under a strategy,” Rawat alleged.
Condemning the Speaker, former leader of Opposition Ajay Singh alleged that Sitasharan Sharma was behaving in a manner as if he was a member of the ruling party.