House witnesses noisy scenes NT Staff Reporter
Panaji, July 26 Noisy scenes over deciding on the disqualification petition against Ms Victoria Fernandes, the Congress MLA from St Cruz, prompted the Speaker, Mr Pratapsingh Rane, to adjourn the state assembly till Monday, giving a breather to the Congress-led government to plan strategies to counter the rebellion against it. Soon after the House assembled to transact the business today afternoon, Mr Chandrakant Kavlekar, the Congress MLA from Quepem raised the issue of disqualification of Ms Fernandes based on the petition filed by him, even as other members of the treasury benches joined the chorus demanding that the Speaker decide on the petition. Nothing was audible in the resultant melee, which prompted the Speaker to rise on his feet and ask the opposition members to take to their seat and allow the House to transact the business. His pleas, however, failed to pacify the members of the ruling group, who went on raising slogans. Mr Rane also told the House that he was yet to decide on the issue of disqualification and that he would decide on it as per the laid down procedure. The opposition members sat quietly throughout the sitting of the House, even as Mr Manohar Azgaonkar walked into the well of the House shouting slogans. At one time the Speaker was heard saying that he would not allow such scenes to prevail in the House and even went to the extent of suspending the members. The slogan shouting continued for about seven minutes and with the members of treasury benches reluctant to heed to his repeated pleas, Mr Rane adjourned the House for an hour. Mr Kavlekar told reporters after the House was adjourned that he had moved the disqualification petition on July 24 itself after the end of House seating. He said that he was demanding action against Ms Fernandes for having defied the whip and who was trying to go scot-free by resigning from the House creating constitutional crisis. This was against the spirit of law, he said further. When the House reassembled after the adjournment, same scenes were repeated by the ruling side, even as the Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat attempted to move a bill as part of government business after the Speaker called him out to move it. The ruling side members targeted Mr Ramkrishna Dhavalikar calling him Aya Ram Gaya Ram. Nothing uttered by the Chief Minister could be heard due to the slogan shouting and the pandemonium that prevailed in the House. With the unruly scenes continuing for a long time, the Speaker adjourned the House till Monday. The demands pertaining to education and other departments could not be taken up for discussion and passed due to the prevalent pandemonium in the House. Even the question Hour was not taken up. Earlier, when the House assembled for the day, Mr Atanasio Monserrate and Mr Reginaldo Lourenco were among the first to arrive in the assembly hall followed by Mr Francisco Xavier Pacheco and Mr Chandrakant Kavlekar. The Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs were brought to the assembly in a bus. Mr Dhavalikar entered the assembly hall through the opposition lobby so also Mr Anil Salgaocar. Both tried to seat in the opposition side but found that their seats were not changed and walked to the ruling side and occupied their respective seats. Mr Dhavalikar reached out to the ruling side members and shook hands with them. He was heard saying that he changed sides because the home and finance portfolios were given to Mr Ravi Naik and Mr Dayanand Narvekar which prompted ruling side to counter him by asking him as to how he could demand the PWD portfolio. http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=072717 Cip
