Amidst the exchange of heated words between the ruling party and the Opposition MLAs, the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly was on Friday adjourned twice for a total of one and a half hours as the Leader of Opposition (LoP) from the Congress party, Tikaram Jully, dubbed Speaker Vasudev Devnani as ‘Dhritarashtra’ for favouring the BJP ministers and turning his microphone off.

As the proceedings of the Zero Hour began on Friday, the LoP raised the issue of uproar while replying to demands made for grants on Thursday and the conduct of the ministers. He said he was forced to speak his mind as the ministers behaved improperly on Thursday and uttered unparliamentary words, which were not removed from the proceedings.

Jully further said, “Chairman Sir, your inclination should be towards the opposition, but we see that your inclination is towards the ruling party. The Speaker is protecting them. They are working to kill democracy. I have never seen you turn off the microphone of the Leader of the Opposition. You turned off my microphone for the second time. There is so much hooliganism and dictatorship”.

On this, the Speaker said, “Will you call the Chair Dhritarashtra. You called me Dhritarashtra. Such a comment against the Chair is shameful. You should apologise for this”.

At this, the treasury bench members stood up and moved towards the well of the House raising slogans against the LoP. This created chaos and led to the adjournment of the House adjournment twice for a total of one and a half hours.

Later, the LoP apologised for his remark. Senior Congress MLA and PCC president G S Dotasara also assured the Speaker they all have great respect for the Chair and that they will cooperate in the smooth running of the House unless you (Speaker) cooperate with us too in raising the Opposition’s issues.

After the deadlock was resolved in the House, Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani ordered to expunge the recitation of Thakur Ka Kuan poem by Congress MLA Harish Chaudhary and the comments of the Leader of Opposition and Minister Avinash Gehlot from the proceedings of the House.

While interacting with the media outside the House, the LoP again repeated the charges against the Speaker, pointing out his biased behaviour and dubbing him as ‘Dhritarashtra’.