Shimla: The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday maintained that it had walked out of the Himachal Pradesh assembly Thursday.
“We staged a walkout yesterday (Thursday) but it has been reported in a section of the press that there was no walkout. Even the speaker was quoted by the media as saying that there was no walkout,” BJP member Suresh Bharadwaj said in the assembly Friday.
Bharadwaj insisted that the walkout was staged before the house was ordered adjourned. However, the speaker clarified that he had adjourned the house before the opposition staged a walkout.
“It’s an unhealthy practice of issuing a statement (regarding the walkout) by the Vidhan Sabha,” the BJP member said.
“I had left the house and you (BJP members) were still in the house and technically it was not a walkout,” Speaker B.B.L. Butail clarified.
The speaker also clarified that no such statement was issued by his office. He admitted that he made a remark when some reporters asked him whether it was a walkout or not.
Leader of opposition Prem Kumar Dhumal said earlier that everything was recorded verbatim, including slogans raised by the BJP members. “Even some part of our statements during discussion were deleted from the proceedings. It’s a serious issue,” he added.
At this, the speaker said: “I will inquire into it and take action against the erring officials, if it is found to be so.”
The BJP Thursday created a ruckus in the assembly expressing dissatisfaction over Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s reply to a discussion on the state budget for 2013-14.
The opposition, not satisfied with the chief minister’s reply, left the house raising slogans.
-IANS
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