GUWAHATI, March 30 � Cross voting by seven legislators in the Rajya Sabha polls continued to have its impact on the proceedings of the Assam Legislative Assembly for the second day today as the Opposition members today boycotted the proceedings of the House.
The Opposition members staged a sit in demonstration in front of the Assembly premises this morning demanding disqualification of the legislators, who violated party whips to vote in favour of the Congress candidates in the Rajya Sabha polls and resignation of the Government for �murdering democracy�. The protests by the Opposition may continue tomorrow.
The Opposition members also displayed placards and shouted slogans in support of their demands, while, the proceedings of the House started with virtually empty Opposition benches. Only three of the four BJP legislators, who were suspended by the party for violating party whip, were seen in the Opposition benches.
Because of the absence of the Opposition members, the proceedings of the House today ended at around 11.30 am instead of the scheduled time of 1.30 pm.
Meanwhile, talking to media persons, Leader of the Opposition Chandra Mohan Patowary said that since democracy is �murdered� so, the Opposition thought it prudent to draw the attention of the people to this fact in an effective manner, which prompted its members to boycott the House and take to squatting outside the Assembly.
He described the Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi as a pseudo advocate of development. The Chief Minister , while inviting fresh investments to the State, has been feverishly trying to describe one of the indigenous investors Jayanta Baruah as an �enemy of the people.� This exposes the real character of the pro-development fa�ade worn by Gogoi, he alleged. Jayanta Baruah rose to the present stature with his own effort and labour. Why Tarun Gogoi is jealous of him? Baruah has made contributions towards the fields of journalism and literature. The first Assamese dictionary Hemkosh is published by his family and the latest edition of the dictionary was published by Baruah himself, said Patowary.
Gogoi should also take the pain to collect the information on Baruah�s contribution to Asam Sahitya Sabha Nyas from the Sabha. A man like Tarun Gogoi , who knows only the language of money, only can think of monetary transactions in exchange of nominating Jayanta Baruah by the opposition, he added.
The Congress owes an explanation to the people as to what made it nominate Mani Kumar Subba and the like. Tarun Gogoi is in a fix as he has been caught red handed in horse trading. The Ministers he engaged to indulge in defection in the Opposition camp were caught by the media escorting the defector MLAs, Patowary said. He said that the Chief Minister is now trying to divert this issue by dragging the nomination of Jayanta Baruah into a controversy.
