BJP MLA Sharma suspended

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 19

BJP MLA Om Prakash Sharma was today suspended for the rest of the ongoing budget session of the Assembly for allegedly making derogatory remarks in the House while opposing the presence of Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot.

AAP legislators accused Sharma of using “unparliamentary and undignified” language in the Assembly following which Speaker Ram Niwas Goel ordered Sharma’s suspension for the remaining days of the session after a resolution moved by ruling party MLA Somnath Bharti was passed with voice of vote.

This is not the first time Sharma has been suspended from the House with the last time being over the insinuating remarks against AAP MLA Alka Lamba in November 2015. He was suspended for two sessions in the matter.

In the incident, the AAP legislators alleged in the House that Sharma threatened police action against them saying they will have to go to jail if they make a fake EVM machine during a heated exchange of words with the ruling side when he referred to its live demonstration of a dummy EVM in the House last year.

The BJP leaders, who staged a walk-out on Gahlot and the suspension issues, called the suspension "strangulation" of the Opposition's right to protest. Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta argued with the Speaker asking the latter under which rule of the House he was punished. Later he said he would appeal to the Speaker to reconsider his decision.

"It is an unconstitutional step showing how the AAP is muzzling the voice of the Opposition when we oppose the presence of Gahlot, who has been disqualified by the President, " Sharma told outside the House.

On March 16, all four BJP MLAs were marshalled out of the Assembly when they questioned the presence of Gahlot in the House.