36 Chhattisgarh legislators suspended for stalling assembly

RAIPUR - Thirty-six legislators, most of them from the opposition Congress, were suspended from the Chhattisgarh assembly Tuesday for stalling its proceedings over the abduction and killing of children across the state.

The suspension of 34 Congress members and two of the Bahujan Samaj Party was announced by Speaker Dharamlal Kaushik after the slogan shouting MLAs stormed into the well of the house and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Raman Singh in the wake of the recent cases of abduction and killing of children across the state.

The suspended members included Leader of Opposition Ravindra Choubey and former home minister Nandkumar Patel.

As the 90-member house assembled at 11 a.m., Congress and the BSP members forced a 10-minute adjournment as they accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of failing to check the kidnappings of children.

The protestors also displayed a photograph of a school student who was abducted and murdered recently.

They continued to raise slogans against the chief minister when the house reassembled and the speaker adjourned the house till 12 noon and then for the day.

Though the speaker said the suspension was only for the day, the 39-member Congress legislature party announced it would not allow the house to transact any business for the entire winter session till Dec 10.

Raman Singh told reporters Tuesday that his government favoured a debate in the house on the alleged collapse of law and order. Stalling the house would not benefit anyone, he added.

But the opposition leader Ravindra Choubey rejected the chief minister’s call.

“The Congress would disrupt the house till he resigns as the BJP government is incompetent to maintain law and order,” Choubey said.