BJP MLAs protest against Soren govt. by spending night in Jharkhand House
The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU) MLAs on Wednesday staged a protest inside the State Assembly till late night and threatened to stay there overnight in protest against Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s “refusal to reply to their questions on key issues” raised in the Assembly.
Mr. Soren said he would reply to all the questions with “proper statistics” on Thursday or Friday. But the Opposition MLAs refused to budge even after power supply inside the Assembly was switched off after the House was adjourned for the day.
House adjourned
Earlier, Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto had adjourned the House till 11 a.m. on Thursday. The Opposition MLAs continued their protest while staging sitin in the Well of the House.
“It’s a murder of democracy as the government did not reply to questions by our MLAs. We will not move from here even at night,” Jharkhand BJP incharge Laxmikant Bajpai told journalists.
“The Opposition legislators, in fact, have been held hostage inside the Assembly as lights and air conditioners have been switched off and drinking water supply too was cut off. The MLAs are sitting on protest in the dark,” Mr. Bajpai added.
When Mr. Soren visited the Assembly to meet protesting legislators, they refused to budge and continued their protest.
The BJP has 21 MLAs while two belong to AJSU. BJP chief whip Biranchi Narayan came out of the House for sometime and told media persons, “We placed our demands before the Chief Minister and sought his assurance for reply. But the CM said he would reply on the issues on Friday. We want his reply on Thursday, as those are related to people and the government’s promises.” Mr. Narayan asserted that “they would stay inside the House through the night”.
‘Childish obstinacy’
However, legislator Mithilesh Thakur of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha ( JMM) termed the protest as baal hath (childish obstinacy) and added that they were setting a wrong precedent.
“Opposition members cannot decide how the Assembly should run; it is the prerogative of the Speaker. They’re protesting as this is an election year in the State and such acts are expected from the Opposition,” said Dipika Pandey Singh of the Congress, JMM’s ally in government.
Assembly elections for the 81 seats in Jharkhand are due later this year.