Gujarat Assembly: Cong stages walkout after Speaker refuses to extend session

The opposition Congress on Tuesday staged a walkout from the Gujarat Assembly after Speaker Shankar Chaudhary refused to extend the session to discuss the motion to thank Governor Acharya Devvrat for his address to the House.The day-long session of the newly-formed 15th Legislative Assembly started in Gandhinagar on Tuesday morning.

The opposition Congress on Tuesday staged a walkout from the Gujarat Assembly after Speaker Shankar Chaudhary refused to extend the session to discuss the motion to thank Governor Acharya Devvrat for his address to the House.

The day-long session of the newly-formed 15th Legislative Assembly started in Gandhinagar on Tuesday morning. Devvrat addressed the House at 12:00 pm.

As the House was also supposed to discuss and pass a bill during the day, senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia urged the speaker to extend the session for at least three days so that everyone gets the chance to speak and the Opposition can suggest amendments to the Governor's address.

''As per the rules, at least three days should have been allotted for discussion on the Governor's address. However, we have only one day. Apart from this discussion, we have also to discuss a bill. If you feel it is appropriate, we can discuss the bill first and postpone the discussion on the Governor's address till the next Assembly session,'' suggested Modhwadia.

He also claimed that the Congress MLAs had not received a copy of the Governor's address as required under the Assembly's rules.

Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rushikesh Patel said discussion on the Governor's speech can not be delayed and as per the rules it must be held immediately after the speech is delivered. Speaker Chaudhary agreed with the minister and rejected Modhwadia's demand for extension of the session or postponement of the discussion till the next session.

Congress MLAs then walked out while all five MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) remained in the House.

Chaudhary, as a last-ditch effort to dissuade the Congress MLAs from walking out during the very first session of the new Assembly, assured that he will try to give enough time to opposition members by allowing the House to function till midnight.

But all 17 Congress MLAs left the House while shouting slogans against the ruling BJP.

They returned after an hour to take part in the discussion on `The Gujarat Regularisation of Unauthorised Development Bill, 2022'.