Himachal Assembly Speaker Files FIR Against Five Suspended Congress MLAs For 'Manhandling' Governor

Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha witnessed chaos on Friday, February 26, as Congress legislators allegedly pushed and manhandled the Governor, BJP ministers, and blocked the Governor's vehicle.

The incident happened while the Himachal Pradesh governor Bandaru Dattatraya was leaving the assembly for Raj Bhavan following the ruckus in the assembly, reported NDTV.

After the ruckus, assembly Speaker Vipin Parmar lodged an FIR against the leader of Opposition, Mukesh Agnihotri, and four other MLAs, Harsh Vardhan Chauhan, Satpal Raizada, Sunder Singh and Vinay Kuma, and suspended them for the entire budget session for allegedly manhandling Dattatraya. The details of the FIR is awaited.

On Friday, while Dattatraya was addressing the assembly on the first day of the budget session, Agnihotri stood up and said that he did not mention the skyrocketing petrol/diesel prices, unemployment and several critical issues in his address, The Tribune reported.

The Governor abruptly ended the speech after Agnihotri's interruption and said it could be considered read.

Later, when Dattatraya, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and ministers were leaving, Agnihotri and other MLAs sat outside the gate, from where the Governor's vehicle was about to pass. They blocked the vehicle, held documents and raised slogans.

Speaker Vipin Parmar has alleged that opposition members also hit the bonnet of the Governor's vehicle. Speaking to the media, Agnihotri said that it was for the first time in the history of Himachal Vidhan Sabha that the Governor 'ran away' right after reading two pages of his speech.

"The address is a bundle of lies, with no mention of corruption in COVID management, unemployment, price rise and back-door entries," said Agnihotri. The party members were not invited when the Governor came, he alleged. "So we wanted to ask him why he chose not to read the 65-page address," Agnihotri said.

He claimed that the Governor left within 6-7 minutes of his speech. "The monsoon session could not be held, and since it is being held almost after a year, at least the Governor should have read the entire address, even if it is a bundle of lies and false claims," Agnihotri added.

He stated that none of the party members touched the Governor; they approached him to talk over important issues. However, the party members were allegedly 'manhandled', and the police and the BJP MLAs dragged them. "We will now give notice for privilege over the manner we were manhandled," he added.