Oppositions at Assam Assembly Stage Walkout Over Horse-Trading Issue

The oppositions in the Assam Assembly staged a walkout on Monday over alleged horse trading of MLAs by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls.

As soon as the House assembled in the morning, the Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia of the Congress said the Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the ruling BJP were indulging in "undemocratic practices" by allegedly trying to "buy" MLAs to win both the Rajya Sabha seats from Assam for which elections will be held on March 31, reported PTI.

Speaker Biswajit Daimary tried to pacify the Opposition and requested them to allow continuance of the Question Hour, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.

CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday had claimed that suspended Congress MLA Sashi Kanta Das will vote for BJP-led NDA candidates during the upcoming Rajya Sabha election in the state after a meeting with him.

"This is being done to weaken the Opposition and democracy", Saikia said, adding the chief minister allegedly said all Congress and opposition MLAs are ready to join the BJP".

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However, the treasury bench strongly opposed this, resulting to a chaotic situation inside the House. The opposition started shouting slogans and waved placards with slogans.

The opposition, comprising the Congress, AIUDF, CPI(M) and the Raijor Dal, moved to the well of the House and shouted slogans like "Save Democracy", "Won't Allow Death of Democracy", "Inquilab Zindabad", "Follow Constitution" and "Jai Aai Asom" among others.

These were countered by BJP MLAs with shouts of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "Jai Shree Ram".

The speaker while trying to calm down the situation said, "You (opposition) please sit down and discuss the issue. Only then, we can solve it. There's no problem in discussing the issue in the House. The Rajya Sabha polls will be held as per rule.”.

After continuously shouting slogans inside the well of the House for 35 minutes, during which the Question Hour continued, members of the four opposition parties staged a walkout from the Assembly.

The BJP has nominated Pabitra Margherita as its candidate for one seat, while United People's Party Liberal's (UPPL) working president Rwngwra Narzary was named for the second seat.

The two seats, for which elections are due, are currently held by Ripun Bora and Ranee Narah both from Congress. Bora is in the fray this time as the Opposition parties' joint candidate.

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