Congress stages walkout over suspension of members in Himachal

Shimla, March 3 (IANS) The Opposition Congress legislators in Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday staged a walk out from the House over the issue of suspension of five party's members, including Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri.

As soon as the House assembled for the day, senior Congress member Jagat Singh Negi got up to raise the issue.

He said after the adjournment of the House on the first day of session on February 26 after the Governor's brief address, the House was recalled in the afternoon for which the Congress members were not timely intimated.

He said the decision on their suspension taken in the reconvened House a one-sided affair.

At this, Speaker Vipin Parmar asked the Congress member to sit down and said he would give ruling on the issue after the Question Hour.

The Congress members, however, insisted to address the issue immediately and started raising slogans against the government. They later walked out of the House.

After the Question Hour, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur condemned the behaviour of opposition members on the first day of the budget session and the following days. He said what Congress did on the first day warranted strict action.

On February 26, Agnihotri along with four other Congress lawmakers, Harsh Vardhan Chauhan, Satpal Raizada, Sunder Singh and Vinay Kumar, were suspended for the entire Budget session after they allegedly manhandled Governor Bandaru Dattatraya.