Minister's unseemly conduct draws Speaker's ire in MP

Pradhuman Singh Tomar, Madhya Pradesh Public Relations Minister and a close confidant of former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, received severe tongue lashing from MP Assembly Speaker N.P. Prajapati on Wednesday for unseemly conduct in the House.

In a rare incident, the minister was chided and warned for using offending language and gestures while former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was making a point against the government.

Amid noisy scenes, the opposition was grilling the treasury benches and the Speaker rose to bring about peace. He was seen mollifying the opposition when the minister got on his feet and began shouting and gesturing aggressively at the opposition members. This was the first time in the current term of the Vidhan Sabha that a minister was at the receiving end of the Chair's indignation.

"Why did you stand up and speak when I had risen to bring order during the important phase of a discussion between the treasury and opposition benches who were trading charges over scholarship to meritorious students? I warn you against such behaviour, language and gestures which would not be tolerated hereafter," Prajapati told the minister.

He also asked the Parliamentary Affairs Minister to ensure such conduct is not repeated.

Earlier, Tomar had stood up and pointed at the opposition, shouting that the people of his constituency were bothering him because of false promises of the previous government over waiving of power dues.

The minister was apparently trying to turn the tables on the opposition that was embarrassing the government over the students' scholarship issue.

Chouhan said the government was slyly trying to discontinue the scholarship scheme launched by the previous BJP government. Chouhan said that poor students were flocking at his residence with complaints that they were not getting the scholarship.

Chief Minister Kamal Nath intervened to assure the House that the government was not going to stop the scheme.

In an earlier incident, Tomar had faced the Chief Minister's ire during a cabinet meeting. He was pacified by his colleagues then.

Earlier, Madhya Pradesh legislators, led by leader of opposition Gopal Bhargava and Chouhan, marched some 300-metre from the Birla temple to the state Assembly wearing aprons raising the farmers' issues.

Slogans emblazoned on their aprons said the farmers were not getting urea due to black-marketing of it, and farm loan of up to Rs 2 lakh was not waived as promised by the Congress in the run up to the Assembly polls last year.

The Congress countered the opposition by questioning the role of 28 Lok Sabha MPs who have made no attempts to convince the Central leadership and the Union government to ensure adequate supply of urea when the farmers needed it the most.

They (the MPs) also represent the farmers as much as the MLAs do, said party spokesperson K.K. Mishra.

( With inputs from IANS )