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.
Also read: 'No response from CM to my calls': Chhattisgarh minister TS Singh Deo on resignation row
The Assembly has not received any communication so far regarding the acceptance of resignation of any minister, Mahant said. Leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik and other opposition members said further proceedings of the Assembly should not be held until the issue is settled and the CM comes up with a statement in the House. Amid the din, the House was adjourned for 10 minutes.
After the proceedings resumed, the opposition members again raised the issue demanding a statement from CM Baghel. Meanwhile, the Speaker said Singh Deo has informed the Assembly office that he will not be present in the House on July 20 and 21 and assigned Forest Minister Mohammad Akbar to address the issues pertaining to his departments in the House.
The Speaker then asked Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ravindra Choubey to make a statement, to which the opposition members objected and sought a statement from the CM which led to pandemonium in the House. Amid the noisy scenes, the Speaker adjourned the House for the day. Singh Deo, locked in a turf war with Baghel, on July 16 resigned from the panchayat and rural development department, one of the four portfolios held by him.
He will remain the minister for Health and Family Welfare, Medical Education, Twenty Point Implementation and Commercial Tax (GST) departments.
The sudden development is seen as the fallout of an old political rivalry between Baghel and Singh Deo, who was seeking the chief minister's post under a purported power sharing agreement. In a four-page resignation letter to the chief minister, Singh Deo cited various reasons saying he was unable to fulfil the targets of the department as per the vision of the Jan Ghoshna Patra (poll manifesto), given the "current scenario". (PTI)
