The main Opposition Congress on Thursday ended up with an own goal when the Madhya Pradesh Assembly was adjourned sine die by the Speaker in the midst of noise and fury since the ruling side used its brute majority to pass a resolution rejecting a no-confidence motion moved by the Congress legislators against the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government without any discussion.
The House was earlier adjourned for half-an-hour due to loud protests by the entire BJP side. Opposition leader Ajay Singh was not allowed to lead the discussion on the no-confidence motion as the deputy leader of the Opposition Chaudhary Rakesh Singh Chaturvedi wrested the initiative at the outset by strongly criticising the Congress chargesheet. After the curtain came down on the Monsoon Session much ahead of the original schedule, Mr Singh described Mr Chaturvedi as a traitor. Mr Chaturvedi’s expulsion from the party was also announced without much delay but not before he drove to the state BJP headquarters with the chief minister and was formally inducted into the ruling BJP.
When Speaker Ishwardas Rohani allowed the no-confidence motion for discussion at about 12 pm, after the House had completed its remaining business, the Congress side was caught by surprise when the deputy leader of the Opposition stood up and raised objections against the no-confidence motion moved by his own party. He objected to the non-inclusion of some issues in the Congress chargesheet. He particularly talked of 721 pilgrims from Madhya Pradesh, who have gone missing in Uttarakhand. He also wanted to know why there is no mention of the sex scandal involving former Madhya Pradesh minister Raghavji in the no-confidence motion. In the same context, he took strong objection to a tweet by Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh which reads, “Slogans being raised in Bhopal: Bachcha Bachcha Ram Ka, Raghavji Ke Kaam Ka!” Expressing anguish over this tweet, Mr Chaturvedi said that it should hurt the religious sentiments of every Hindu.