The Uttar Pradesh Assembly witnessed noisy scenes and the House had to be adjourned for 15 minutes after former BSP leader and now labour minister Swami Prasad Maurya made critical comments about the his former mentor Mayawati.
During the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the Governor’s address in the Assembly on Thursday, BJP member Dal Bahadur Kori without naming the BSP chief alleged that the person concerned only promoted capitalism in politics and her party. He said that party members had to pay to Behanji right from her birthday to obtaining ticket for Assembly and Parliament elections. He also said that leaders like Swami Prasad Maurya immensely enhanced the stature of BSP party. These comments irked BSP members who demanded that the comments be deleted from the proceedings of the House.
Even before the matter could be resolved, Swami Prasad Maurya jumped in the fray and supported Kori’s statement. He also named the BSP chief saying Mayawati took money for giving tickets and took money on all possible occasions.
Maurya said that Dal Bahadur Kori was only narrating the state of affairs in BSP, as he was a member of that party before joining the BJP.
The BSP members including its leader lalji Verma were on their feet demanding apology from the BJP MlA and the minister. The House witnessed bedlam with both the BJP and BSP members trading charges. Intervention by leader of the Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary and Speaker Hriday Narain Dikshit failed to pacify the BSP members after which the Chair ordered an adjournment for 15 minutes.
When the House reassembled, the BSP members stuck to their demand for an apology from the BJP member, besides deleting the objectionable statement from the proceedings.
The leader of the Opposition said that members should restrain from making any statement against any party leader. The situation was defused after the assurance of the Speaker that he would go through the proceedings of the day and objectionable statements would be expunged from the record.