Gandhinagar: Congress MLAs on Monday walked out of the state Assembly to protest over the remarks against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made by a state minister during discussion on a Private Member Resolution.
The resolution was introduced in the House, seeking a more "aggressive" approach on foreign policy by the Centre in backdrop of incidents like killing of two Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops and Islamabad passing a resolution condemning hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
During the discussion, Minister of State for Legislative Affairs Pradeepsinh Jadeja criticised the Prime Minister for his "inaction" and also passed some objectionable remarks against him, which were ordered to be expunged from official records by Speaker Vaju Vala.
However, enraged over the remarks, all the Congress MLAs stood up and demanded an apology over the matter, accusing the state ministers of repeatedly making derogatory remarks against the Central government and the Prime Minister.
Not satisfied with the Speaker`s assurance that the remarks will be removed from the records, all the Congress MLAs, led by Rajput, party`s Chief Whip Balwantsinh Rajput, walked out of the house and started raising slogans against the government outside the assembly.
Talking to reporters outside the Assembly, Leader of Opposition Shankarsinh Vaghela alleged the state government, instead of dealing with immediate issues confronting the state like water crisis in Saurashtra, is busy targeting the Centre to gain political mileage.
Earlier, BJP MLA Meghji Chavda, through a non-government resolution, asked the Centre to "send a strong message" to Pakistan in backdrop of the resolution passed by Islamabad on Guru`s hanging and last month`s bomb blast in India`s Hyderabad city.
The resolution also mentioned Italy government`s earlier refusal to send back two marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast.
Such incidents underscore the need for a strong and aggressive foreign policy, the resolution said.
Before staging a walkout, Congress MLAs, who spoke during the discussion on the resolution, expressed their support to it, noting that the resolution passed by Islamabad establishes that "our neighbouring country is involved in terrorism."
The resolution was later passed in the absence of opposition Congress MLAs.
PTI
