The number of sittings of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly has gone down during the last 10 years of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government in the State, as compared to those held when the Congress was in power.
According to information received from the state Secretariat, a total of 282 sittings of the Assembly were held from 1993 to 1998. The number went up slightly to 288 from 1998 to 2003.
Senior leader and Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh was the chief minister of the State from 1993 to 2003.
Between 2003 and 2008 when the BJP was in power, a total 158 sittings of the Assembly were held. During the second term of the BJP, the number of sittings went up marginally to 167.
So in a decade’s rule of Congress a total of 570 sittings of the house were held while in the same tenure only 325 sittings of the house were held under the BJP rule. A massive 245 sittings difference was marked between the Congress and the BJP rule in the state.
Constitutional expert VD Mehta said there was no rule to fix the number of sittings of a House but added that for a healthy democracy, it was essential that the working of a government should be discussed in the Assembly.
Congress leaders, including state party unit vice president Manak Agarwal, have often said that the BJP does not want more sittings of the Assembly as it wants to avoid discussion on the work done by its government. New MP Assembly Speaker Sita Sharan said the Opposition, instead of resorting to personal attacks, should concentrate on raising the problems of the people and attack the government for its policies and decisions.
Sriniwas Tiwari, who was the Speaker during the Congress rule from 1993 to 2003, claimed it was for the ruling party to convene sitting of the House and any government that that does not do so is shying away from its responsibility.