UP Assembly question hour lost for lack of quorum

Lucknow, Dec 11 (UNI) The Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly today made a history of sorts, but for wrong reasons.

Owing to a lack of quorum, the Speaker was forced to adjourn the proceedings for a little over an hour this morning.

When the house met for the day at 1100 hrs, Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey was forced to adjourn the proceedings for 30 minutes for lack of quorum. Despite persistent ringing of bells, not many members turned up for the proceedings. But when the house met against 1130 hrs, the Speaker was once again forced to adjourn the house till 1220 hrs as around 30 members were present against the required strength of 41 members.

Terming the happening as the ''first time ever'' in the history of UP assembly, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Pramod Tiwari said the state government was directly responsible for the lack of quorum. ''Had all the ministers turned up, the assembly could have had sufficient number of members to run the house,'' he added.

Leader of the Opposition Lalji Tandon (BJP) said the ruling dispensation was not serious in running the house. ''My point is proved by the lack of quorum,'' he added.

UNI MB/NAB SY BD1856