Rajasthan Congress MLA now suspended for six months, proceedings adjourned sine die

Jaipur: Rajasthan Speaker Vasudev Devnani has suspended the Congress MLA Mukesh Bhakar for six months now while the Assembly has been adjourned sine die on Tuesday.

On Monday, Bhakar was suspended for a day for creating a ruckus in the Assembly over the disaster management debate. However, when the proceedings resumed on Tuesday, Congress MLAs protested and remained adamant about cancelling of suspension of Bhakar.

Chief Whip Jogeshwar Garg asked the Speaker to suspend Bhakar for six months, which was approved and the Assembly was adjourned sine die.

Garg said that Bhakar should have left the House after being suspended on August 5.

“The Speaker repeatedly asked him to leave the House but he did not listen. When they tried to forcefully send him out and called the marshals, he bit the hand of the security personnel, one of them was a woman security personnel. The opposition should be ashamed,” the Chief Whip said.

He said that there is a provision in the Procedure and Working Rule 292-3 of the Assembly that the suspended MLA should immediately leave the boundaries of the House.

“Bhakar did not do it while the opposition kept protecting him. A person who behaves indecently has no right to remain a member of this House,” the Chief Whip said.

On Tuesday, when the debate on disaster management resumed, which was started by BJP MLA Sandeep Sharma, there was a huge uproar by the opposition against the suspension of their MLA. They also raised slogans against the government.

While the opposition continued sloganeering, Congress MLA Ramila Khadiya stumbled and fell as her health deteriorated due to low blood pressure.

The Speaker asked the opposition to send the suspended MLA out first and then let the Question Hour continue. However, there remained a deadlock in the Assembly throughout the day over Bhakar’s suspension.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel also discussed with the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) to remove the deadlock however talks failed and the Assembly was adjourned sine die.