RAIPUR: In an unprecedented occurrence in the history of Chhattisgarh Assembly, the opposition parties BJP and the Ajit Jogi-led Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) boycotted the customary address of Governor Anusuiya Uikey in the House on Thursday.
Chhattisgarh Assembly is holding a one-day special session to ratify the bill for extending the reservation for communities of Scheduled Tribe/Scheduled Caste by another 10 years in the state assemblies.
The Parliament has already passed the Constitution (126th), Amendment Bill, last month. And now at least 50 per cent of the states Assemblies needed to ratify ahead of its implementation. The reservation for both the class is due to end on January 25 this year.
The Chhattisgarh BJP strongly objected to holding special session for one day, convened by the state government, with the Governor’s address and the discussion on motion of thanks to it the same day, besides the ratification of the Amendment bill.
The party had demanded the session should have been extended like the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh where a two-day special session has been convened on January 16-17. The JCC (J) members too boycotted with the BJP as a mark of protest.
“We cannot be part of such practice, that breaks the established tradition of the House. So we decided to boycott the Governor’s address”, the former chief minister Raman Singh said.
However, Congress felt such boycott was unwarranted. “Such protest and boycott is nothing more than playing of politics by the opposition”, said the parliamentary affairs minister Ravindra Choubey.