Assam Speaker suspends 6 BJP MLAs, 9 from Congress backing it, for Winter Session

Guwahati: Six BJP MLAs and nine from Congress, who had recently declared their allegiance to the opposition party, were today suspended from Assam Assembly for the 5-day Winter Session by Speaker Pranab Gogoi for disobeying his ruling and creating noisy scenes.

Just before the beginning of the Question Hour on the first day of the session, the Speaker gave the ruling that all the BJP members and those from Congress supporting it, have been suspended from the House for the entire Winter Session.

BJP has six MLAs and nine Congress MLAs recently announced their decision to join the party. All of them were suspended. The strength of the Assembly is 126.

Earlier, when the House assembled, BJP MLA Jadav Chandra Deka demanded scrapping of the Question Hour and holding of a discussion on the "deteriorating law and order situation" in the state.

"The law and order situation is deteriorating day by day. Hindi-speaking people are being tortured and Jehadi activities are on rise. Allow us to discuss the issues by today itself," Deka said.

When the Speaker did not accept his demand, all BJP MLAs stood up and shouted in support of their demand.

Immediately, all Congress MLAs, including the ministers, countered the opposition demand by shouting back.

The BJP MLAs then rushed to the Well of the House and pressed the Speaker with their demand. They were joined by the Congress MLAs, who had recently declared their allegiance to the opposition party but had not resigned from the ruling party.

Thereafter, ll Congress MLAs also rushed to the Well and shouted slogans against BJP, leading to a face-off between the members.