Congress disrupts Parliament over Arunachal row

Congress on Wednesday disrupted Parliament over Arunachal Pradesh Governor Jyoti Prashad Rajkhowa, alleging that efforts are being made to “destabilise” the party’s state government, even as the Centre said an “Emergency-like situation” was being witnessed there.

The party forced repeated adjournments of Rajya Sabha over the issue while in Lok Sabha, its members, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, staged a walkout. Leader of Congress Mallikarjun Kharge told Lok Sabha that despite Congress having two-thirds majority, it is very “unfortuante that unconstitutional attempts are being made to throw out the government.” He said, “Efforts are being to destablise and elected government to bring in a non-Congress government.”

Even as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said rules do not permit raising of a matter related to a state, Parliamentary Affairs Minster M Venkiah Naidu said, “The (Arunachal Pradesh) Speaker has disqualified 14 MLAs. It’s an Emergency-like situation there,” Naidu said.

In Rajya Sabha, Congress members trooped into the Well and shouted slogans like “stop the murder of Constitution in Arunachal Pradesh and Dismiss Arunachal Governor.”

The face-off between Arunachal Pradesh Governor J P Rajkhowa and Chief Minister Nabam Tuki over attempts to remove the Speaker escalated on December 15 with the latter terming the move to advance the assembly session for the purpose as “illegal” and declaring no Congress MLA will attend the proceedings.