Logo

Logo

Brawl in Gujarat House, Cong MLA hits rival with mike

A Congress legislator on Wednesday hurled a microphone at a ruling BJP MLA as members of the two rival parties…

Brawl in Gujarat House, Cong MLA hits rival with mike

Congress MLA Pratap Dudhat.

A Congress legislator on Wednesday hurled a microphone at a ruling BJP MLA as members of the two rival parties exchanged blows inside the Gujarat Legislative Assembly.

Subsequently, the Congress MLA Pratap Dudhat was suspended for the rest of the Budget session.

The Congress has said that its legislator was provoked by the foul language used by the BJP MLA Jagdish Panchal.

Advertisement

The bedlam in the House began when Congress MLA from Jamnagar, Vikram Madam, was trying to raise a point of order about the judicial commission’s report on the unnatural death of two boys at Asaram Bapu’s ashram in 2008. They had died allegedly due to black magic.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel objected to it, saying that Congress Chief Whip Shailesh Parmar has already raised a point of order. As Vikram Madam was adamant of speaking, another Congress legislator Amrish Der urged Speaker Rajendra Trivedi to let him speak. The Speaker objected to his tone, following which both the Congress MLAs rushed to the Well of the House.

Both Madam and Der were suspended from the House for the day and were ordered to be marshalled out.

Following this, BJP MLA Jagdish Panchal allegedly uttered something abusive about the Congress members. Enraged over this, Congress MLA Pratap Dudhat pulled out a microphone from a desk and hit BJP MLA Jagdish Panchal with it.

The Speaker then suspended Pratap Dudhat for the rest of the Budget session and adjourned the House.

Other Backward Classes (OBC) leader Alpesh Thakore, now a Congress MLA, said that the BJP MLA should not have used unparliamentary language.

Speaking to reporters later, Dudhat alleged that the BJP legislator had used foul language about his mother. Expressing regret for behaviour, he said that his action should be seen in the context of what the BJP legislator had said.

This is the second time in 22 years that microphones have been hurled in the Assembly located in the state capital named after the planet’s best-known protagonist of peace.

In September 1996 too, the Gujarat Assembly had witnessed throwing of microphones between rival BJP and Congress members, finally leading to dismissal of the Suresh Mehta ministry and imposition of President’s Rule in the state.

Advertisement