Monsoon session of MP Assembly begins amid light showers of rain and protest from Congress

Bhopal, July 28 (IANS) The Monsoon session of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly started on Monday amid light showers of rain in the state capital Bhopal, however, the House witnessed some heat on the first day.

The session started with customary welcome of Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar by the Leader of House Kailash Vijayvargiya, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Umang Singhar and other senior Ministers in the House.

On the first day, the House functioned only for a brief period and was adjourned till 11 a.m. on Tuesday, following paying homage to former leaders who passed away and offering condolences over tragic incidents which occurred in the country, including the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad (Gujarat).

An exhibition, highlighting 'Jal Ganga Samvardhan' and achievements of the Chief Minister Mohan Yadav-led BJP government was also set up at courtyard of the Assembly.

Chief Minister Yadav and along with Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated the exhibition.

On the other side, before entering the House, Congress MLAs led by LoP Singhar assembled near Mahatma Gandhi's statue at the Assembly premises and held a symbolic protest, accusing the BJP government of adopting "double standards" on the OBC reservation issue.

The Congress MLAs reached the Assembly holding banners and posters, accusing the BJP government of being "Girgit" (chameleon).

"The BJP government is not willing to implement 27 per cent reservation policy for OBCs, but the Congress will keep pressing its demand from every stage until the state government makes its stand clear," Singhar said.

Congress has made an elaborate plan to corner the BJP government on various key issues throughout the 12-day Monsoon session, as they raised the OBC reservation issue for the first day.

However, Congress and BJP here in Madhya Pradesh have been taking each other on the OBC reservation issue since long.

The Kamal Nath-led Congress government had increased reservation quota from 14 to 27 per cent in 2019.

The matter is being heard in the Supreme Court.

Interestingly, the Congress MLAs held a protest despite a directive was issued banning the protest and its use of banners and posters at the Assembly premises.

The directive, issued by the Assembly under Standing Order 94 (2), bans symbolic displays, including masks, props, placards, horns and even gestures in the Assembly, terming it 'disruptive'.

The move comes in the wake of the Opposition taking recourse to all kinds of symbolic protests such as wearing black masks symbolising government secrecy, displaying fake snakes to highlight unemployment problem and skeleton costumes to expose alleged corruption in the last Assembly session.

--IANS

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