34 Congress Members Suspended From Chhattisgarh Assembly Amid Uproar Over Probe Agency 'Misuse'

The Congress on Wednesday created an uproar in the Chhattisgarh assembly, alleging that central and state probe agencies were being misused to suppress the Opposition, and demanded a discussion on the issue by moving an adjournment motion.

After the Chair rejected the demand, Congress legislators trooped into the well of the House, leading to the suspension of 34 MLAs of the Opposition party.

The speaker, however, revoked their suspension after a few minutes.

Raising the issue during zero hour, senior Congress MLA and former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel alleged that investigative agencies were being used to "strangulate the Opposition".

He claimed that statements of witnesses, which were recorded in the court as per the law, were pre-prepared by the state's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in its office and later projected as genuine documents during investigations.

"It is very unfortunate. Even witnesses are being intimidated," Baghel said.

Referring to the arrest of his son Chaitanya Baghel by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) (in July in connection with ??a liquor scam), he alleged the action was carried out after Congress MLAs protested the cutting of trees (for a coal mine) in Tamnar (in Raigarh district).

Baghel also cited ED's action against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case, claiming it was an attempt to suppress the Opposition.

Senior BJP MLA Ajay Chandrakar objected, saying actions by central agencies could not be discussed in the state assembly.

Speaker Raman Singh said he had already rejected the adjournment motion notice in his chamber.

Baghel said democracy was in danger and questioned how it could be protected when the opposition was being intimidated.

While stating that he abided by the Chair's ruling, he challenged the treasury benches to allow a discussion on the issue if they have faith in democracy.

As their demand was not accepted, Congress members raised slogans of "Satyamev Jayate", alleging attempts to defame the party through investigative agencies. BJP members countered with chants of "Vande Mataram".

Amid sloganeering, Congress members entered the well of the House and were automatically suspended as per the assembly rules.

The speaker announced the suspension of 34 Congress MLAs, following which they walked out. Their suspension was revoked a few minutes later.

Earlier, the question hour was completely disrupted as Congress members entered the House wearing clothes with "Satyamev Jayate" posters and accused the government of misusing investigative agencies.

As the House assembled for the day, BJP MLA Chandrakar asked under which rules Congress members entered the House wearing posters on their clothes.

Speaker Singh said using posters and banners inside the House is not appropriate and it is against parliamentary rules. He asked Congress members to get them removed and then attend the House proceedings.

However, Congress members remained inside the House which led to noisy scenes, prompting the speaker to adjourn the House for five minutes.

Subsequently, the proceedings were again adjourned twice as Congress members did not comply with the speaker's repeated directions to remove the posters.

Later, the speaker called the Congress's act of disrupting the question hour as inappropriate, citing discussions on questions related to public issues are held in the question hour.

He condemned the Congress members' act and said they should think over their conduct.

Central and state agencies have been probing the alleged scams related to liquor, coal, CGPSC recruitment, rice milling, District Mineral Foundation (DMF) and others, which were unearthed during the previous Congress government in the state.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)