BJP members stopped again

CM camp says dispute over nomination of MLAs still pending in Supreme Court

Turned away: Nominated BJP leaders, V. Swaminathan, K.G. Shankar and S. Selvaganapathy, who were denied permission to attend the Assembly session in Puducherry on Monday.

BJP leaders V. Swaminathan, K. G. Shankar and S. Selvaganapathy, who were appointed as nominated legislators by the Union Government, were denied permission to attend the Assembly session on Monday.

Before the session started at 9.30 a.m., the BJP leaders arrived with a copy of the record of proceedings in a petition related to their appointment in the Supreme Court on Friday. But the watch and ward staff had locked the gate and told them that they had been instructed by the Speaker to only permit elected representatives.

Contempt of court

Mr. Swaminathan said the High Court had upheld the appointment made by the Centre and that they should be allowed entry since the Supreme Court did not stay the HC order when the petition challenging it came up in the apex court on Friday.

The BJP leaders insisted on meeting the Speaker and warned the staff of initiating contempt proceedings against them. However, the Assembly staff did not relent as they were bound by the directions of the Speaker.

After a few minutes, the members left the place.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Swaminathan said the Congress had a history of not respecting court directions. The Speaker’s decision amounted to contempt of the court directive. “We will certainly bring this to the notice of the apex court ,” he said. Parliamentary Secretary to the Chief Minister K. Lakshminarayanan said his petition challenging the High Court order was pending in the apex court.

He said the Supreme Court did not issue notices to the parties that were concerned in the case.

He further added that the apex court had listed the hearing for July 19.