In a highly unusual development, the Madhya Pradesh budget session ended abruptly and the Assembly was adjourned sine die on Thursday morning as Congress members repeatedly disrupted the House over the scam relating to the State Professional Examination Board.
Even as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Opposition members vociferously traded charges, the Government moved a resolution to pass the budget which was approved by a voice vote. Soon after, the Speaker Sitasharan adjourned the session, bringing it to a close 29 days ahead of schedule.
Describing it as a ‘black day’ in the history of the State, Leader of Opposition Satyadev Katare said it was a very sad day as the Government had got the budget passed without any discussion.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra, however, blamed the Opposition for the situation, saying that it sought to misuse the forum of the Assembly to malign Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in connection with the MPPEB scam. “The Opposition is indulging in character assassination of the Chief Minister’’ he alleged.
The sudden end of the budget session comes at a time of an intensified attack by the Congress on Mr. Chouhan. AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh recently submitted to the Special Investigation Team monitoring the probe documents which he claimed were evidences of direct involvement of Mr. Chouhan.
The controversy is also set to deepen in the coming times with a key whistleblower alleging that whatever has come out so far in the case was only the tip of an iceberg and that he would be coming out with more details soon.
