Members of the Opposition Congress and ruling BJP in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly on Monday indulged in heated exchanges over a breach of privilege motion brought by the BJP against Congress MLA Jitu Patwari for his alleged unparliamentary comments against media.
Speaker Sitasaran Sharma accepted the motion and referred it to the House Privileges Committee. The House was adjourned twice due to the din created during the arguments on the issue.
BJP MLA Yashpal Singh Sisodia moved the motion against Patwari during the zero hour, alleging that the Congress MLA from Rau constituency in Indore had made derogatory comments in the House against the media a couple of days ago.
Congress MLA Ramniwas Rawat, however, said the issue did not merit a breach of privilege motion, as the Speaker had expunged the comment from the record of the House proceedings that day. Nonetheless, state legislative affairs minister Narottam Mishra and some other MLAs of the treasury benches persisted that the motion be accepted.
Amid heated allegations and counter allegations the Speaker adjourned the House for 10 minutes.
When the House reassembled, Forest Minister Gaurishankar Shejwar said that Patwari has indulged in the contempt of House by using the floor to suppress media for his own self-interests. There were heated arguments again and the Speaker adjourned the house once more.
After the House reconvened, Narottam Mishra said Patwari has been trying to bring down the dignity of the House. Congress MLA Ramniwas Rawat cited several rules to stress that the matter did not come under the Breach of Privilege.
However, all his efforts went in vain, as noisy scenes and heated exchanges continued and finally the Speaker referred the motion to the Privilege Committee.