Raipur: The Chhattisgarh Assembly was adjourned for the day on Wednesday amid uproar by the BJP over minister TS Singh Deo resigning from the panchayat department while claiming he was being side-lined. On the first day of the Assembly's monsoon session, members of the opposition BJP demanded a statement from Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in the House over the issue, claiming there was a constitutional crisis in the state as a minister had himself expressed no confidence in the government's functioning.
Singh Deo was not present in the House as he is on Gujarat tour. He has been appointed as observer by the Congress for the Gujarat elections due later this year. BJP MLAs Brijmohan Agrawal, Ajay Chandrakar and other party legislators claimed a minister had levelled allegations against the chief minister and that it was a serious issue. As per constitutional arrangements, the cabinet and the executive are answerable to the legislature but the state government has failed on this front," they said.
Either the minister concerned (Singh Deo) or the CM should come up with a statement in the House on the issue. In the absence of Singh Deo, the CM should speak on it, the BJP MLAs said. They said that Singh Deo in his letter to Baghel claimed he was not being allowed to work freely and expressed no confidence towards the CM.
The BJP members said even the minister has claimed that a committee headed by chief secretary was constituted to approve work of the panchayat department against the Rule of Business, and a conspiracy was hatched to stage a strike by employees working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
It is against the Constitution and the rule that a chief secretary give the final nod to a minister, they said. However, Assembly Speaker Charan Das Mahant asked under which rule the opposition members were raising the issue. How has a letter written by a minister to the CM become a matter of constitutional crisis? he asked.