The monsoon session of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly beginning on July 17 is likely to be stormy with the Opposition Congress on Sunday warning of “strong protests” if senior Minister Narottam Mishra, disqualified by the Election Commission of India (ECI) recently, attends the House.
The Congress said they would raise the “plight” of farmers during the 12-day-long session.
“If we find Mishra in our midst during the monsoon session beginning tomorrow, we will file a defamation suit against Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Speaker Sitasharan Sharma for not terminating his (Mishra’s) membership to the House,” Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Ajay Singh said.
Mishra, the BJP MLA from Datia seat, was disqualified by the EC on June 23 for filing wrong accounts of the expenditure for 2008 Assembly polls and over charges of paid news.
“If Mishra doesn’t cease to be the member of the House, a serious Constitutional crisis will erupt which will give rise to an unpleasant situation that has not been witnessed in the history of the Assembly,” the LoP reportedly said.
He said the government’s attempts to “put on the back burner” the issues faced by the cultivators won’t succeed.
Madhya Pradesh recently witnessed violent protests by farmers demanding a complete loan waiver and better remuneration for agricultural produce. Five farmers were killed in police firing in Mandsaur last month.
“Since the Delhi High Court has also upheld the decision of the Election Commission to disqualify Mishra, his attending the session tomorrow, if that is the case, will be akin to the contempt of court,” Mr. Singh said.
Meanwhile, a delegation of the BJP Ministers on Sunday requested Speaker Sitasharan Sharma to provide security to MLAs on the premises of the Assembly in view of the voting for presidential poll tomorrow, citing Mr. Singh’s statement on likelihood of “unpleasant situation” if Mishra attends the proceedings.
The delegation comprising Gaurishanker Shejwar, Umashanker Gupta and Vishwas Sarang handed over a memorandum to the speaker.
“The threat of Singh should not be taken lightly in the wake of the recovery of explosive stuff in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly,” the memorandum stated.
However, Mr. Singh said his statement was being blown out of the context to create a conspiracy in a bid to avoid holding a debate on the farmers’ issues in the Assembly.
In a dig, the Congress leader said it would have been better had the ministerial delegation requested the speaker for termination of Mishra’s membership or sought his resignation.
Mr. Singh said he hoped the BJP was not behind the recent incident wherein an explosive substance was recovered from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
“I hope there is no hand of the BJP in it (the U.P. Assembly incident) to create an atmosphere of fear in that State. Such culture is of the BJP and not of the Congress,” he said.
