Haryana Assembly on Tuesday adopted a motion of breach of privilege against former Speaker and Congress MlA Kuldeep Sharma for allegedly defaming the BJP led State Government on the issue of illegal mining.
The chief whip Gian Chand Gupta moved the privilege motion against Kuldeep Sharma for misleading the House by making a false statement against the Council of Ministers and bureaucrats.
Surprisingly, the privilege motion was adopted after the House passed a condemnation resolution against Kuldeep Sharma for his statement. Many legislators were not happy to let go the former Speaker with just a condemnation resolution, and demanded to adopt a privilege motion, which was allowed by the Speaker Kanwar Pal later.
The former Speaker Kuldeep faced the ire of BJP and INlD legislators when he levelled charges against the Government’s Ministers and bureaucrats for their involvement in mining scam in Haryana.
Sharma, while speaking during a debate on State’s budget 2017-18, alleged that illegal mining is going on in the State under the patronage of the State Government.
Following his statement, the BJP and INlD legislators asked Sharma to either name the people of the Government involved in illegal mining or apologise for this statement.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma moved a resolution to condemn the former Speaker, which was passed unanimously by the House.
Soon after, Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar, leader of opposition Abhay Chautala and BJP legislators demanded to adopt a privilege motion against Sharma stating that it is a serious issue and only a condemnation resolution will not serve as a deterrent in such cases.
The House referred the issue to the Privileges Committee for examination and submission of its report at the first sitting of the next session.