Coronavirus: Gujarat Assembly adjourned sine die

The Gujarat Assembly was adjourned 'sine die' on Monday due to the novel coronavirus outbreak after a motion for it was introduced by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

It was approved in the absence of Congress MLAs who were shifted to Rajasthan two weeks ago to prevent poaching attempts by the BJP ahead of the March 26 Rajya Sabha polls.

Notably, when Congress had demanded on March 14 that the House be adjourned, it was rejected by the BJP.

"At that time, I had told the leader of opposition Paresh Dhanani that we are elected representatives and it does not suit us to lock ourselves in our houses when our people need us. Moreover, there was no positive case of coronavirus till March 18. Today, the number has reached 30. The virus is spreading," Rupani told the House.

"Thus, I propose to adjourn the House sine die, so that MLAs and ministers, who are engaged in legislative work here, can go remain with their people in these difficult times. People will feel good their elected representatives are with them, not like Congress MLAs, who have fled instead of helping people," said the CM.

He urged the Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi to call a session anytime afterwards if needed.

The ongoing Budget session was supposed to end on March 31.

After the Assembly passed the motion to adjourn the House indefinitely, the Budget was also passed by a majority vote in the absence of Congress legislators.