Business Standard, July 23, 2019
Amid Opposition BJP’s ongoing protest against his ruling which allowed only two supplementary queries by the member raising an issue and none by others, Rajasthan Assembly Speaker C P Joshi on Tuesday said he has taken the decision to maintain the dignity of the House.
From the past four days, BJP legislators have been protesting against the Speaker’s ruling. On Friday they had partially boycotted the Question Hour when only those MLAs attended the assembly proceedings whose questions were listed while on Saturday, they wore white masks and did not participate in it. On Monday, they entered the House wearing black ribbons on their arms.
As soon as the House began on Tuesday, Joshi said a discussion was held with all the parties on how to make better arrangement in the assembly and he was happy to take tough decision due to which assembly proceeding are being held smoothly.
The Speaker said after the ruling, new members were getting chance to participate in the House proceedings and helping them to understand how it runs.
“If such information is provided in the first session itself then I believe that the House will run effectively in five years. I would request everyone to help me in making all the decisions effective that I have taken in the first session of the House,” Joshi said.
He said if any changes have to be made then they will be done after discussion so as to maintain dignity of the House and members do their work with accountability.
“I would like the Leader of Opposition to understand my feelings and request him to allow his members to participate in Question Hour so that we can run it effectively,” the Speaker said.
In response, Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria said the opposition members are also of the view that more questions should be taken up.
He said according to rules the member who originally raised the question is allowed to raise two questions and a question became the property of the House after it is asked
“It is not only Leader of Opposition’s right to ask question but it is everyone’s right to ask question after a question becomes property of the House. We will support in every manner, but we are not ready to accept that other members are not allowed to ask question except who raised it in the House, he said.
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