Congress MLA Karan Singh Dalal suspended for 1 year from Haryana Assembly for hurling shoe at INLD leader

Chandigarh: A Congress MLA was suspended from Haryana Assembly on Tuesday for one year after the legislator and the Leader of Opposition, Abhay Singh Chautala, hurled abuses and charged at each other with a shoe in their hand, prompting the Speaker to summon marshals. A resolution to suspend Karan Singh Dalal, which was supported by main opposition INLD, was moved by finance minister Capt Abhimanyu over alleged use of derogatory language and misconduct by the Congress MLA and passed by voice vote in the House. [caption id=“attachment_2753032” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Ajay Chautala. IBNLive[/caption] During the first half of the day’s proceedings, the firebrand Congress MLA from Palwal had a heated exchange with Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Chautala and both stopped short of exchanging blows. Chautala held a shoe in his hand as he advanced aggressively towards Dalal who too took out his shoe as both hurled abuses at each other. The Speaker summoned House marshals to form a human chain around the two legislators. Congress MLAs including Hooda held Dalal’s hands in a bid to prevent the situation from escalating further. Later, the Assembly was adjourned briefly. The Congress protested against the suspension of its MLA, alleging that the BJP was misusing its majority in the House. Dalal said he would move the court against his suspension and questioned why no action was taken against Chautala. However, during second sitting of the Assembly in the evening, the House passed another resolution to condemn alleged objectionable behaviour and language of both Dalal and Chautala and for not maintaining decorum of the House, inviting objection from Congress and INLD MLAs. Amid the din, the House had to be adjourned briefly for third time over the issue. Earlier, the trouble started when Dalal expressed his unhappiness over a minister’s reply to his supplementary questions on the Calling Attention motion over alleged deletion of some ration cards belonging to the poor. The government, in its reply, denied the allegation. But dissatisfied with Minister Karan Dev Kamboj’s response, Dalal accused the government of snatching the rights of the poor and used a word which angered the ruling benches. Ministers Anil Vij, OP Dhankar, Manish Grover and Capt Abhimanyu hit back at Dalal, asking him how could he use word which “brings disrepute for Haryana”. They claimed that Dalal has not only insulted the House, but entire 2.5 crore population of the state, which the Assembly represents. Dhankar slammed Dalal for using “insulting words for the motherland”. Dalal tried to clarify, saying he had said that government is insulting the poor by snatching their rights. As the ruckus continued, Dalal sought a ruling from deputy speaker Santosh Yadav, who was in the Chair at that time, on whether such a word could be used. He later also sought ruling from Speaker Kanwar Pal when he resumed the Chair. However, amid the din, Yadav adjourned the House for 10 minutes. As the House re-assembled, Dhankar and some other ruling BJP members raised the demand that Dalal be suspended from the House. The Speaker urged both the ruling and opposition MLAs to refrain from using unparliamentary language in the House, telling them otherwise it will be difficult to run Assembly. Capt Abhimanyu said the Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala too should express his views on Dalal’s matter. Chautala said “the kind of language used by Dalal, who is a five-time MLA, was unacceptable”. Seeking an apology from Dalal will not serve the purpose, he said and asked the treasury benches to move a resolution for Dalal’s suspension, adding the INLD will support it. Soon, Chautala and Dalal were involved in a slanging match and Speaker Kanwar Pal adjourned the House for 15 minutes. As the House re-assembled once again, Capt Abhimanyu moved the resolution that condemned the use of derogatory word by Dalal for Haryana and his conduct “unbecoming of a member” and suspended him from the House for one year. Hooda took strong objection to the resolution, saying the BJP was misusing its majority in the House to suspend opposition MLA without allowing him an opportunity to give a proper explanation. The former chief minister even apologised on Dalal’s behalf, but at the same time said that he had never seen such a situation where an opposition MLA was suspended without being given a chance to explain his side. Congress MLAs led by Hooda and CLP leader Kiran Chowdhary sought a review of the decision and asked under what rule Dalal had been suspended for a year. However, Speaker Kanwar Pal told them that the decision was taken by the House. “The decision of the House is final,” he told the Congress members. He disallowed a demand of Congress members to allow them to move a motion against the resolution which had been passed. Later, opposition Congress staged a walkout from the Assembly. Later talking to reporters outside the Assembly, Dalal termed his suspension as “illegal” and said he would move the court in this regard. Hitting out at Chautala, Dalal said, “why was he not suspended for taking out a shoe and charging at me”.