Case likely against Congress MLAs for manhandling Himachal Speaker

Shimla, Feb 27: Himachal Pradesh Speaker Vipin Parmar is examining the Assembly rules to file an FIR or police case against the five Congress MLAs suspended for the remainder of the Budget session for allegedly manhandling Governor Bandaru Dattatraya.

The Speaker told news agency Press Trust of India that this is for the first time in the history of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly that the Governor was manhandled by Opposition members.

He is examining the rules to file an FIR against the suspended Congress MLAs, the Speaker said.

Himachal Pradesh Governor Bandaru Dattatraya was allegedly manhandled by some Congress members in the Assembly complex on Friday after he addressed the House on the opening day of the Budget session.

The Speaker suspended Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri and four other Congress MLAs Harsh Vardhan Chauhan, Satpal Raizada, Sunder Singh and Vinay Kuma for the entire Budget session till March 20 on a motion moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Bhardwaj.

Parmar said some opposition members tried to stop the Governor, who was accompanied by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, when he was going towards his cavalcade after addressing the House.

Parmar said they hit on the Governor's back with copies of his address. They also hit the bonnet of the Governor's car, he added.

Earlier, the Congress MLAs shouted in the House during the Governor's address. He then skipped to the last sentence after reading initial few pages and stated that the entire speech should be deemed as read.

Suspended Congress MLA Harsh Vardhan Chauhan told news agency PTI that they were waiting outside the Speaker's office and just wanted to ask the Governor why he cut short his address but they were not allowed to do so.

He alleged that it was Deputy Speaker Hans Raj who manhandled the MLAs, a charge denied by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Bhardwaj, who said the Congress legislators had planned to create a scene.

Chauhan also said they did not have any intention of manhandling the governor.