Gujarat Congress MLAs suspended after ruckus over alleged land deal

Gandhinagar: Over 50 Congress MLAs were on Tuesday suspended for a day by the Gujarat Assembly Speaker for creating ruckus in the House over the issue of alleged allotment of land near Gir Lion Sanctuary at a cheaper rate to the business partners of Chief Minister Anandiben Patel's daughter Anar.

The issue today cropped up during Question Hour, when Congress MLA Mahendrasinh Baraiya sought clarification from the Speaker Ganpat Vasava for not taking up his resolution for discussion in the assembly.

Vasava refused to grant him any relief, saying that the resolution, which was about preservation of ecology near Gir sanctuary, touches a sub-judice matter and cannot be discussed in the House as per the set traditions.

On this, all the 50-odd Congress MLAs, who came prepared with placards, rushed into the well and demanded resignation of the CM and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the alleged allotment was given a go ahead when Modi was CM here while Patel was Revenue Minister in 2010.

As the slogan chanting against BJP-government and its leaders did not stop even after repeated warnings from Vasava, he eventually suspended all those who were in the Well. As they refused to leave, Vasava also called in sergeants to evict some of them forcefully.

Though some senior Congress MLAs, such as Shaktisinh Gohil and Mohansinh Rathva, were not suspended as they had remained on their seat, they also left the House in protest.

While addressing media outside the Assembly, Gohil shared the copies of Baraiya's resolution to prove that their MLA has not mentioned anything about that particular land deal involving Anar Patel, which was rejected yesterday.

"Private member resolutions are selected after a draw. Though Baraiya's resolution was selected in the draw, the state government might have realised that their corruption will be exposed if this resolution is discussed on the floor of the House," said Gohil.