Guwahati, May 5 (PTI) Congress general secretary in-charge of Assam Jitendra Singh on Sunday said the party will approach the courts for disqualification of its MLAs who are involved in “anti-party” activities after the Assembly Speaker “failed” to act on its petitions to cancel their membership of the House.
“We have already written to the Speaker seeking disqualification of Congress MLAs indulging in anti-party activities. That the Speaker is not acting against them shows that the BJP government is not following rules,” Singh said, addressing a press conference here.
He said the party will now approach the high court and even the Supreme Court, if needed, to get these legislators disqualified.
The state’s principal opposition party has submitted multiple petitions to Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary seeking disqualification of at least five MLAs for various “anti-party” activities, like lending support to the government, voting against party nominee in Rajya Sabha poll and campaigning against the party candidate in Lok Sabha elections.
On recent show-cause notice to Goalpara (West) MLA Abdul Rashid Mandal, Singh said, “There was a complaint against him and he was served show-cause notice. He has given his reply. It is being studied and follow up action will be taken.” AICC general secretary Ajoy Kumar, also speaking at the same press meet, claimed that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wants to return to the Congress, which he had left for the BJP in 2015.
“We hear that he wants to return and is evaluating the options, once Narendra Modi loses this election. But the Congress will never accept a turncoat like him,” Kumar, the party in-charge for Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, claimed.
Alleging large-scale corruption against Sarma, he said, “I have come from the second most corrupt state (Odisha) to the most corrupt state (Assam) in the country.” He claimed that the BJP-led government has “failed” the state on all fronts, with rising unemployment and corruption in the name of building roads and other infrastructure, among others.
“Unemployment has increased by 7 per cent on one hand, and liquor shops are mushrooming on the other hand. The youth, who have no jobs, are getting addicted to the easily available liquor. Sarma has become the ‘liquor man of India’,” Kumar alleged.
The AICC leader alleged that the Modi government has “failed” on economic, employment and national security fronts.
Money is concentrated at the hands of a few people leading to a greater rich-poor divide, unemployment is rising and the PM remains silent on China and Pakistan-based militants continue to carry out attacks, he claimed. PTI SSG RG
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