Congress members on Monday staged a walkout from the Himachal Pradesh assembly over the snub of its member Jagat Singh Negi by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and sought expunging of his remarks from the proceedings of the house.
Jagat Singh Negi raised the issue under Rule 131 after the Question Hour and said Jai Ram chided him while he was speaking on budget debate and the words used by the CM were not in good taste.
Negi stated that he never abused Prime Minister Narendra Modi as was alleged by the CM and ruling members during his speech on 5 March.
The Speaker can expunge any words he had made against the PM but the remarks made by CM should also be expunged and action should be taken against him under Rule 299 as it is below the dignity of the house.
Replying to allegations, Jai Ram Thakur said Negi not only used derogatory words for PM Modi but his body language was not good.
He also mentioned last year’s speech of the Congress member during budget debate and said he had indulged in mimicry of the PM last year too which can’t be tolerated.
He stated that the PM was not part of this house thus could not expect to defend and opposition members could not be allowed to create nuisance during the serious discussion on budget.
The words used by him against the member on Saturday were not unparliamentary and if the chair found it in breach of any rules, then they should be expunged.
Giving the ruling on the issue, Speaker Vipin Singh Parmar said he would look into the records and will expunge remarks if they were unparliamentary. But the opposition members didn’t relent and staged a walkout from the house.
Jai Ram criticised the opposition members for staging walkout just to remain in media limelight and added it had become a habit of Congress members to walkout from the house by creating ruckus on trivial issues.