The BJP members on Tuesday sought clarification in the Chhattisgarh Assembly regarding the total strength of members of Congress legislature Party (ClP) in the House in view of suspension of two MlAs by the party earlier.
Speaker Gaurishanker Agrawal, however, made it clear that no information had been provided by ClP in this regard and hence the strength of Congress members in the Assembly remained the same.
Immediately after the Question Hour, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ajay Chandrakar raised the issue of sitting arrangement of two Congress MlAs facing suspension from the party. He said the two members were not being invited for the meeting of ClP and hence they should be provided seat as unaffiliated members in the House.
ClP leader TS Singhdeo took strong objection to this and said that it was the internal matter of the Congress and the ClP had not given any information to the Speaker in this regard.
Revenue Minister Prem Prakash Pandey and Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal too joined the debate and requested the Speaker to seek clarification from ClP about the status of the two members.
Congress members Bhupesh Baghel and Satyanarayan Sharma supported leader of Opposition TS Singhdeo who said that the two members had given in writing that they would remain the members of Congress party for their entire life.
Eventually, the Speaker intervened and clarified that he had not received any information in this regard from ClP. The sitting arrangement has been made after consultation with the leader of concerned parties.
As far as suspension of the two Congress members is concerned, it is the internal affair of the party. Since ClP leader has not given information about any changes, the strength of ClP remains the same that is 39, added the Speaker.