Bhopal, May 11 (Inditop.com) A four-day special session of Madhya Pradesh assembly began Tuesday with Deputy Speaker Harvansh Singh, the main opposition Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party staying away, describing the session as unconstitutional.
The session, convened for building a political consensus on development issues, saw discussions between legislators from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) on various issues.
Congress legislators boycotted the session, calling it unconstitutional, and claimed that it will not serve the purpose of raising people-oriented issues in the house.
They also staged a sit-in in the assembly building.
On Monday, the Congress sent a letter to BJP national president Nitin Gadkari requesting him to direct his party colleague and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to hold discussions on issues related to people rather than organising a special session of the assembly.
State Congress spokesman K.K. Mishra, in his letter to Gadkari, said: “The state government has no moral right to conduct such a session when six of its ministers are facing investigation from Lokayukta and Economic Offences Wing (EOW).”
He said the entire state was grappling with power shortage, residents of chief minister’s village have been found to be involved in power theft and six lakh children have died of malnutrition in the state.
Earlier, Chouhan Monday wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi to direct her party legislators to participate in the special session aimed at seeking suggestions on development.
President Pratibha Patil was earlier supposed to address the special session but her visit to Bhopal was called off due to “unavoidable reasons” after the President’s Office was apprised of the controversry over the session.
