Golay leads
walkout alleging Speaker bias
GANGTOK, 27 June: SKM and SDF MLAs have been going at each
other on an increasingly acerbic tone since the start of the Budget Session,
and today, the fifth day of the session, the confrontation, carried over from
yesterday’s events, boiled over very fast and all 10 SKM MLAs staged a walk out
within 10 minutes of the House convening. SKM president, Upper Burtuk MLA PS
Tamang, led his party colleagues out of the Assembly alleging bias by the
Speaker.
Mr. Tamang accused the Speaker, KN Rai, of acting at the
behest of the Chief Minister and displaying bias when he expunged his [Mr.
Tamang’s] comments made during the zero hour yesterday from the record of
Assembly proceedings.
Quoting Rule 325 of the Sikkim Rules and Proceedings for
business of the Sikkim Legislative Assembly, Mr. Tamang argued that he had
raised issues related to the “business” transitioned in the Assembly over the past
four days and that no unparliamentarily or defamatory words were used in his deliberation.
Speaker Mr. Rai, in the meanwhile, had explained yesterday
that his decision to expunge Mr. Tamang’s address was because as per the rules
there is no provision for Zero hour in conduct rule and directed the SKM MLAs
to go through Rule 334 of Procedures and Conduct of Sikkim Legislative
Business.
Mr. Tamang, addressing a press conference at MLA Hostel
later in the day, reiterated that the Speaker had not followed the rule of
procedure and alleged that the Assembly was being run not by the Speaker but by
the Leader of the House.
He claimed that he and his legislators were raising issues
backed with documentary and statistical evidence which is why they were not
being allowed to speak freely and their statements were being expunged.
The treasury bench, he contended further, was resorting to
name-calling because it did not have anything beyond claims to share.
His MLAs echoed this sentiment and alleged that the
government was not allowing the opposition to speak on issues directly related
to the welfare of the people and the state.
Interestingly, Forest Minister Tshering Wangdi Lepcha had a
different explanation for the SKM walkout. This walkout, he claimed, was a
pre-meditated move which was part of a strategy to shift focus from SKM leader,
PS Tamang. Mr Lepcha claimed that since the Demand for Grants for the Animal
Husbandry Department was to be taken up today, SKM walked out because it knew
that the Vigilance case related to this Department [on a complaint filed by
SSP’s Nar Bahadur Bhandari] under which Mr. Tamang has been chargesheeted,
would have definitely come up.
Minister Lepcha said, “If he [Mr. Tamang] had a problem with
the Speaker’s ruling on Zero Hour during Thursday's session, he should have
walked out on the same day”.
