4 Oppn Gujarat MLAs suspended on last day of assembly session

The tenth session of the 12th Gujarat Legislative Assembly ended on Friday, which saw the suspension of the remaining four Congress MLAs, tabling of the much-awaited CAG reports, and passing of the Gujarat Private Universities (Amendment) Bill.

As the House convened at 8.30 am, the four unsuspended Congress MLAs — Amitkumar Chavda, Rajendrasinh Parmar, Paranjayadityasinhji Parmar and Jodhaji Thakor —demanded a discussion on CAG reports. However, the Speaker rejected the demand.

Just three minutes into the session, the four MLAs rushed to the Well of the House carrying banners, criticising the government for the spike in edible oil prices, and the sale of land to industries.

This forced the Speaker to order the marshals to remove the four MLAs from the House. He also ordered their suspension from the House for the whole day.

Later, the House saw tabling of various CAG reports for the year 2010-11. The reports indicted the state PSUs for undue favours to various corporate houses, and also highlighted gross irregularities in functioning of various government departments.

The Gujarat Private Universities (Amendment) Bill, which awarded the status of private university to Indus University and Rai University, was approved unanimously by the House.

The 10th session of the current assembly was one of the most chaotic in many years. The session saw suspension of Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil, which was followed by frequent suspension of the entire Opposition on many days. Later on March 28, the Opposition MLAs were suspended for the rest of the session. The session was also marked by uproar about the ‘Porngate scandal’ in which two BJP MLAs were alleged to have watched obscene pics on their iPad.