Oppn Cong stages walkout over minister`s presence in Rajasthan Assembly

Jaipur: Opposition Congress on Tuesday staged a walkout in the Rajasthan Assembly objecting to the presence of BJP`s ex MLA Sanwar Lal Jat in the House as a Cabinet minister, saying Jat has taken oath as MP and his presence in the Assembly leads to a "constitutional crisis."

On the question of a BJP MLA Anita when Public Health and Engineering Department Minister Jat (who has taken oath as MP in Lok Sabha) stood to reply, a Congress MLA Vishwendra Singh stunned the house by asking the Speaker Kailash Meghwal, "Whether a man can have two wives as per the law, if not then how could Jat be allowed to enjoy two posts, one in Lok Sabha, and another as minister in Rajasthan". This annoyed the ruling members who raised their voice saying the Speaker had given a ruling and rejected their issue, and there was no sense for Opposition Congress to cry again. Leader of Opposition (Congress) Rameshwar Dudi and deputy whip Govind Singh Dotasara objected saying that if the BJP government so desired to allow Jat to make reply, he should be administered oath of Minister. The Parliamentary Minister RS Rathore and Chief Whip KL Gurjar tried to pacify the uproar saying that the Speaker had rejected the Opposition members` demand, and the Question Hr should not be interrupted. "We can not listen to a stranger making the reply on a question. We are not bound to listen to such stranger person`s reply", Congress members said and announced the walkout. Dudi and Dotasara objected the presence of Jat in the House as a Cabinet minister, saying Jat has taken oath as MP of Lok Sabha recently and his presence in the Assembly leads to a constitutional crisis. After their walk over the question hour was conducted without Congress members. Yesterday, before budget presentation Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Speaker Kailash Meghawal had categorically rejected?Congress` demand to declare Vasundhara Raje government as "unconstitutional" saying there was no "validity" in it and allowed Jat as the minister under the sections of 164 (4) and 164 (1A). During zero hour, an Independent MLA Hanuman Beniwal demanded that 1000 people who qualified the Constable examination for Mineral Protection Force in previous Gehlot government should be give appointments. Raising his voice against "desire posting" in the BJP government, NPP MLA Dr K L Meena created sensation saying "Now the transfers of officers, bureaucrats and collectors would be done on the desire of MLAs. If this is right, then the BJP government should tell all MLAs regardless of party lines whether opposition MLAs` desire would be entertained". There was ruckus for a few minutes when treasury bench members tried to oppose NPP MLA who alleged that it was a politicisation of bureaucracy that would lead to corruption and such instructions made at the party level of BJP be rejected in the house. The speaker did not allow Meena to continue his issue on which he was allowed to speak for two minutes. On a starred question, Rajasthan Rural Development Minister G C Kataria told the hose that the state government will extend National Rural Livelihood Mission in whole state in a phased manner. This scheme was launched on April 1, 2014 to strengthen women through Self-Help Groups, and this was operational in 34 blocks of the state and 23000 SHGs have been formed so far, Kataria said.