Gujarat Assembly suspends three Congress MLAs, others walk-out

GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat Legislative Assembly today suspended for a day three Congress MLAs amid chaos even as others walked-out in protest shouting slogans against minister Nitin Patel over his allegation that opposition is responsible for the recent violence in the state.

Leader of Opposition Shankersinh Vaghela stood up as soon as the last day of assembly's monsoon session commenced, and said Patel should clarify how Congress is involved in the agitation by the Patel community, demanding reservation.

"Violence took place because this government failed to handle the situation. I want to know from Nitin Patel on what basis he claimed that opposition is involved in inciting violence. I request his reply as well as debate on this issue," Vaghela said while addressing Speaker Ganpat Vasava.

Health minister and State Government Spokesperson Nitin Patel had yesterday reportedly claimed that opposition parties are involved in the violence.

Vasava, however, maintained that since the opposition did not give any prior notice in this regard, such a discussion can not be allowed.

Meanwhile, Congress MLAs raised slogans against Patel and demanded his resignation.

Three MLAs -- Raghvaji Patel, Harshad Ribadiya and Amit Chavda -- rushed inside the well of the House.

When the three did not relent, Vasava suspended them for the day and called in marshals to evict them.

Enraged by the move, remaining 51 Congress MLAs present in the House, including Vaghela, staged a walk-out. As some of them continued the sloganeering while going out, the Speaker ordered the marshals to take them out.

Later, the three MLAs, led by Vaghela, gathered under the statue of Mahatma Gandhi outside the assembly and paid homage to 10 persons who have died in the violence that erupted after police crackdown on Patel leaders at GMDC ground in Ahmedabad on August 25.

"If Nitin Patel believes that Congress is responsible for violence, then we demand to know how he arrived at that conclusion. When we demanded an answer, we were evicted from the House," Vaghela told reporters outside the assembly.

He also slammed Minister of State for Home Rajni Patel for his statement on violence given in the House yesterday.

"In his statement, (Rajni) Patel has not mentioned anything about who ordered the crackdown on agitators, who ordered the police to beat citizens, how many rounds were fired and where was curfew imposed? He concealed this information to hide the reality of Gujarat from the world," Vaghela said.