Opposition Congress walks out again

Assembly proceedings were disrupted momentarily on Friday after Congress MLAs staged a walkout for a second straight day. Opposition was protesting improper criticism of their leader – Shankarsinh Vaghela. They alleged that MoS (law & parliamentary affairs) Pradipsinh Jadeja behaved in an unparliamentary fashion when he criticised Vaghela in his absence. Jadeja on Friday was responding to Vaghela’s criticism of the state government where he said that it was resorting to lies repeatedly to mislead people. He rebuked Congress MLAs for sitting with Vaghela, who had revolted against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1995-96 and formed Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP). Keshubhai Patel was the chief minister at that time. But inspite of Congress MLAs objecting to the barbs and Speaker Vaju Vala warning him, Jadeja continued picking on Vaghela who, incidentally, wasn’t in the house at that time. Congress MLAs, at this juncture, accused Jadeja of unparliamentary language. Vala told them that he would remove every unparliamentary mention from record. This however didn’t pacify the opposition members, who walked out of house chanting slogans against the minister’s behaviour. But they were soon inside, quite unlike previous incidents where they boycotted entire sessions, and participated in the proceedings.