Agartala: The first day of the Tripura State Assembly got off to a fiery start with opposition MLAs causing a furore and the CM appealing to the Speaker to suspend five MLAs for violating the house decorum.
Opposition party MLAs continued to shout slogans against Jadab Lal Nath, a legislator accused of watching porn in the Assembly and sought his removal.
Soon after the proceedings of the house began, Leader of the Opposition Animesh Debbarma raised a query before the Speaker seeking to know the status of an adjournment motion related to the BJP MLA Jadab Lal Nath brought by him and CPIM MLA Ashok Mitra. Both MLAs wanted to know what action had been initiated against him for bringing shame to the August house.
The Speaker granted the Chief Minister’s appeal, resulting in the suspension of Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman, CPIM MLA Nayan Sarkar and three TIPRA Motha MLAs namely Ranjit Debbarma, Nandita Reang and Brishaketu Debbarma.
Speaking on the issue, Speaker Tripura legislative assembly BB Sen said, “The way papers had been thrown targeting the speaker and proceedings had been attempted to be disrupted it is a sheer violation of the assembly house”.
Leader of the Opposition Animesh Debbarma, however, appealed to the Speaker to withdraw the suspension order as the opposition had no intention to disrupt the House proceedings. As the Speaker did not allow the request of the Leader of the opposition, all the MLAs of CPIM, Congress and TIPRA Motha staged a walkout.
Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy, who was reading his first budget speech, had to stop because of the ruckus and resumed after almost an hour of interruption.
Congress MLA Gopal Chandra Roy said, “Since the matter is very sensitive and directly involved with the assembly, it requires open discussion. I hope the Chief Minister and Speaker will reconsider the issue of suspension”.
In his response, Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha said, “We shall think about the issue later in the day”.
The stormy session of the first half concluded with Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy laying the budget proposal worth Rs 27,654.4 crore with a total deficit of Rs 611.3 crore.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath, however, said that the rules of proceedings do not allow this matter to be raised as an adjournment motion. Criticizing the opposition, Nath said, “Budget is the biggest public interest issue in the state and the behaviour of the opposition MLAs had directly harmed the proceedings of the house”.
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Speaking to media persons, Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman said, “This was quite astonishing. The way I was suspended from the house exposed how the government is trying to muzzle the voice of the opposition”.
Barman also sprinkled Ganga Jal inside the assembly house to purify the building after the BJP MLA’s alleged act of profanity
Also Read | 5 Tripura MLAs suspended from assembly for ‘disrupting’ proceedings