BJP seeks privilege motion against Ranchi admin
The BJP on Tuesday urged Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato to allow a privilege motion against the Ranchi district administration for allegedly preventing its MLAs from participating in the House proceedings a day ago.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Babulal Marandi, alleged that saffron party legislators could not participate in the House proceedings on Monday, as they were detained during a CM residence gherao programme.
He demanded that a motion for “breach of privilege” be moved against the Ranchi district administration for allegedly preventing BJP MLAs from attending the Assembly on August 10.
“We requested the Assembly Speaker to allow a privilege motion against the Ranchi district administration for preventing us from participating in important house proceedings, including debate on the first supplementary Budget and voting, on Monday,” Marandi said.
“We were detained by the Ranchi Police while trying to meet Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren over student issues on Monday,” he said.
The police had detained BJP leaders, including the party’s State unit president Aditya Sahu and Marandi, on Monday when they were protesting outside the CM’s residence over alleged irregularities in Jharkhand recruitment examinations.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Raj Singh, in a letter to the Speaker, alleged that the Ranchi district administration stopped him and several other MLAs from participating in the proceedings of the monsoon session on August 10.
“I was deprived of the opportunity to engage in the crucial discussion regarding the First Supplementary Demands for Grants and, specifically, from casting my vote during the day’s proceedings.
“I was accompanied by several Members of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly, including the Leader of the Opposition, the Chief Whip (Opposition), and the Whip (Opposition),” the letter stated.
He said the MLAs were on their way to meet the CM to apprise him of pressing issues concerning employment for the State’s students and the law-and-order situation when the Ranchi district administration “forcibly stopped us in a public place”.
“This action not only hurt my dignity, but also kept us away from the ongoing assembly proceedings without any cause or prior notice.
“Furthermore, we were forcibly arrested at 11 am to prevent us from democratically raising issues regarding the state’s current situation within the House. This constitutes a complete violation of our parliamentary privileges,” Singh said in the letter.
The MLA said the district police and administrative authorities in the state had been duly informed of the monsoon session and “thus, forcibly preventing participation in the House proceedings amounts to a breach of privilege and is unconstitutional”.
“Therefore, I request you, through the House, to kindly initiate proceedings regarding this breach of privilege in light of the aforementioned facts,” he added.
The protest by students over the alleged irregularities in Jharkhand recruitment exams entered its 18th day on Tuesday, with the BJP observing a State-wide bandh.
The saffron party called for the bandh from 8 am to midnight to protest against the police action on demonstrators during their march to the Assembly on Monday.
Six demonstrators have also been observing an indefinite hunger strike to press for their demands, with two of them hospitalised.
