BJP govt trying to silence the voice of opposition: Congress

Chandigarh, Mar 15: Former Haryana Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Sharma, who was among three Congress MLAs suspended from the House for six months today, hit out at the BJP Government, saying under the guise of majority, an attempt was being made to silence the voice of the Opposition.

"There is intolerance to hear the truth...by creating emergency like situation, it is an attempt to silence the voice of the Opposition," Sharma said in a statement here today.

Three Congress MLAs, including the former Speaker, were today suspended from the Haryana Assembly for six months for "tearing" copies of the Governor's Address yesterday. Sharma stated that "it is also an attempt to silence the voice of the people."

"We come to Haryana Vidhan Sabha to raise the voice of the people and not ours. About the happenings of last month's unrest, people have a right to know the view of the Government as well as that of Opposition. The Government is afraid of its own failure as well as ineffectiveness during these riots..," he said.

Meanwhile, Kiran Choudhry, Leader of the Haryana Congress Legislature Party (CLP), strongly condemned the BJP Government, led by Manohar Lal Khattar, "for suppressing the voice of the Congress Party legislators when they were raising their voice against the failure of the state government to tackle the law-and-order situation in the state during the recent Jat agitation."

She also criticized the BJP for its "double-standards on the SYL issue".

"The party takes a different stand in Punjab where it shares power with the SAD and exactly the opposite in Haryana where it is in power on its own. It reflects the double face of the BJP and exposes its political self-centeredness," Choudhry added.

PTI