Uproar in MP Assembly over 'blood of Kamal Nath' remark by ex- BJP MLA

Bhopal, Jul 19: The Madhya Pradesh Assembly was Friday adjourned twice during the Question Hour amid uproar by the ruling Congress members over the alleged statement made by a former BJP MLA against Chief Minister Kamal Nath during a protest. Speaker N P Prajapati adjourned the House twice amid the ruckus due to which a large part of the question hour was washed out.

As soon as the question hour began, members of treasury benches started raising slogans alleging that during a protest on Thursday, former BJP MLA Surendra Nath Singh had threatened that the blood of Chief Minister Kamal Nath will be spilled on the streets. The Congress MLAs trooped into the Well of the House ignoring the speaker's appeal. Amid the pandemonium, the speaker adjourned the house for ten minutes.

However, when the proceedings resumed, the uproarious scenes continued and the members did not pay heed to the speaker's appeal to allow him to conduct the question hour. Members of the ruling party again trooped into the well of the house and raised slogans against the opposition BJP. On the other hand, BJP members were heard saying that they are ready for a discussion on the issue. As the same situation persisted, the speaker again adjourned the house for 15 minutes.

After the house re-assembled, Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargava said the BJP is ready to give an answer provided the Congress members share the reason of their protest. Prajapati said the statement made by former BJP legislator Surendra Nath Singh or other leaders of any party is deplorable and such language should not be used. In his reply, Bhargava said that it was published across the media platforms that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his speech, has clearly given a message about leading ideal public life.

The BJP leader added that his party has not been in favour of this kind of behaviour, a veiled reference to Surendra Nath Singh. The question hour ended after some time. Meanwhile, Bhopal police have registered a case against Surendra Nath Singh for holding the protest in Roshanpura area of the city "in violation of prohibition orders".

"We registered a case on Thursday night against Singh under IPC section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 143 (unlawful assembly) for violating the prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC imposed in the area," City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Umesh Tiwari told PTI. When asked about his statement, Surendra Nath Singh told PTI that he was leading a protest against the action being taken against the poor vendors and inflated power bills being given to the slum dwellers.

"The local administration has been removing the vendors from the city without their proper rehabilitation. Where do these poor will go? The slum dwellers are being served inflated power bills ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 per month," Nath said.

Asked about use of threatening language against Kamal Nath, the BJP leader said, "The protesters were raising slogans during the protest - 'Hamari mange poori nahi hui toh khoon bahega sadko par' (if our demands are not met, blood will flow on the streets). And when someone from the crowd asked me 'Whose blood?', I inadvertently mentioned the name of Kamal Nath." Singh said that he will continue to raise the issues of the poor.