Speaker acting as CM's agent: BJP                

Dehradun, March 21: Casting doubts on the impartiality of Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal, main opposition BJP on Monday, March 21 accused him of working as Chief Minister Harish Rawat's "agent" and asked him resign if he had even an iota of self respect left in him.

"By disallowing a division of votes on the finance bill in the House, the Speaker deprived the members' right to vote as he knew the majority was against it and it was bound to fall.

"This proves that he was acting as an agent of the state government and not the Speaker of the Assembly who is supposed to rise above political considerations to discharge his Constitutional duties in a non-partisan manner," Pradesh BJP spokesman Munna Singh Chauhan said.

Alleging that by siding with the state government the Speaker had not been true to his constitutional obligations, Chauhan said, "He has no moral right to preside over the proceedings of the state Assembly as he has brought his office into disrepute.

He should resign immediately if he has even an iota of self-respect left in him. Even questioning the justification of the Speaker issuing notices to the nine rebel Congress MLAs recently for violating party whip, Chauhan said he cannot do this at a time when 35 members of the House had already given the notice for a motion of no confidence against him.

Demanding that the Speaker be absolved of his official responsibilities until a decision is taken on the no confidence motion notice moved against him, Chauhan said, "A Speaker who has lost the confidence of the members of the House has no right to discharge his official duties."

Chauhan also refuted allegations against the BJP central leadership of destabilising a democratically elected government in the state, saying it was collapsing due to its own inherent contradictions.

"The government is coming apart as it has lost the confidence of its own MLAs and ministers because of the Chief Minister's autocratic and arrogant style of governance. "Blaming Narendra Modi and Amit Shah for the crisis is not fair. Is it BJP's responsibility to keep Congress' house in order?" he quipped.

PTI