The ongoing war of words between Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Gian Chand Gupta and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MLA Abhay Singh Chautala on Monday led to the lone INLD legislator being debarred from attending the House proceedings for the day as he used unparliamentary language during Question Hour against the Chair alleging bias.
It is the second time within a month that the Ellenabad MLA has been named and suspended by the House.
Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, who is Abhay Chautala’s nephew, condemned his behaviour and said that there have been similar incidents involving the INLD legislator in the past as well.
During the Question Hour, Abhay Chautala had sought to know whether any step had been taken by the government to raise the level of groundwater in the ‘dark zones’. A dark zone is an area where the groundwater level has fallen considerably.
While asking a supplementary question, he said the government should give details on how much money it has spent on the upkeep of ponds and their beautification.
The speaker asked him to put a separate question on the issue he was raising in his supplementary question.
Abhay Chautala started arguing with the Chair after this, following which the speaker asked him to refrain from using unparliamentary language.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar intervened, saying argument with the Chair was disrespect to the entire House. Khattar condemned Chautala’s “unparliamentary behaviour” and said that respecting the Chair is the duty of every member. He said that arguing with the Speaker is against the dignity of the House. The CM said every member has equal right of raising an issue before the Speaker. However, misbehaving with the Speaker is not expected from any member and strict cognizance should be taken against such incidents.
Responding to allegations of bias by the INLD member, the speaker asserted that he has been conducting House proceedings in an impartial manner.
“You should take back your words, otherwise you leave the House,” Gupta told Chautala.
However, as there was no response from the INLD MLA, the speaker said, “I name Abhay Singh Chautala, your behaviour is unparliamentary. During Question Hour, you can ask supplementary question, but you cannot argue with the Chair.” Last month too, Abhay Chautala had been named and suspended by the speaker for two days.
The INLD leader approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court on February 21 contending that the Speaker did not act in accordance with the Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in the Assembly. The court then sought a response from the Haryana Vidhan Sabha secretariat on a plea.
The Haryana Assembly on March 17 passed a resolution to ignore the high court notice. The court has posted the matter for further hearing on March 23.
Later in the day, Congress MLA Geeta Bhukkal had a heated exchange with BJP MLA Deepak Mangla. Mangla praised the budget presented by the BJP-JJP coalition government, and Bhukkal called the coalition government ineffective.