Ruckus in Jharkhand Assembly; House adjourned twice

Ranchi, Dec 21 (PTI) The Jharkhand Assembly on Thursday witnessed uproarious scenes after a legislator demanded action against BJP state chief Babulal Marandi for alleging that the Speaker was not allowing him to speak in the House.

BJP MLAs protested by trooping into the well, and they also demanded that that the legislator’s allegation be expunged from proceedings of the House.

Some Congress MLAs, including Irfan Ansari and Umashankar Akela, also came down to the well raising slogans against the BJP, leading to the adjournment of the House till 12.30 pm.

Before being adjourned, the House functioned for only seven minutes till 11.20 am. This was the fifth consecutive day when the Question Hour was washed out in protest.

Earlier in the day, as the House assembled for the day’s business at 11.13 am, Poreyahat legislator Pradip Yadav, who jumped the ship to Congress after winning the 2019 assembly election on a JVM-P ticket, claimed that Raj Dhanwar MLA Babulal Marandi has alleged in the media that the Speaker was not allowing him to speak in the House.

Yadav claimed that this amounted to contempt of the chair and he demanded strong action against Marandi.

Yadav claimed that Marandi, a former chief minister, had on Wednesday told reporters outside the assembly that the Speaker had not allowed him to speak during a discussion on the 1932 Khatiyan-based recruitment policy, which was passed in the House by voice vote.

Responding to Yadav’s claim, Leader of the Opposition Amar Bauri said that Marandi, who is a member of the House and was elected by four lakh people of Raj Dhanwar constituency, has a right to speak but he was not allowed despite keeping his hand raising.

Bauri said Yadav’s allegations should be expunged from the proceedings and he should seek an apology in the House.

Subsequent ruckus led to adjournment of the House at 11.20 am.

When the House reassembled at 12.35 pm, JMM legislator Stephen Marandi again raised the issue and was supported by minister Alamgir Alam, MLA Pradip Yadav and Irfan Ansari. They all demanded action against Babulal Marandi.

BJP MLA CP Singh protested and claimed that it was not an issue of contempt.

Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto said that he would see rules on this.

BJP members continued to protest and sought an apology from the Congress.

Amid the ruckus, Finance Minister Rameshwar Oraon tabled a CAG report on the performance audit of direct benefit transfer in scholarships and social security pension schemes in Jharkhand.

Thereafter, the Speaker adjourned the House at 12.47 pm till 2 pm.

The House reassembled at 2 pm and private member bills and other procedures are underway.