Manipur minister criticises opposition behaviour in Assembly, Congress hits back

Konthoujam said that the Opposition created a ruckus when the Speaker entered the House and continued to disturb even when obituary references were made.

Manipur PWD Minister Govindas Konthoujam on Tuesday said 'unconstitutional and unruly behaviour' by the opposition Congress during the one-day assembly session was very unfortunate.

Konthoujam told reporters that the opposition created a ruckus when the Speaker entered the House and continued to disturb even when obituary references were made.

The one-day session was adjourned sine die within an hour of commencement after Congress MLAs created a ruckus demanding that the session be extended to five days.

'The opportunity to discuss important matters of the state for the whole day was not allowed by the Opposition members,' the minister said.

'People of the state should know that Congress created a lot of disturbances in the House,' Konthoujam added.

Education and Law Minister Th Basanta said, 'Even before Speaker Thokchom Satyabrata Singh could say something, Congress members started shouting and disturbed the functioning of the House.' 'The speaker had no choice but to adjourn the House for about half-an-hour so that they (opposition) could rethink and come back to discuss the current situation of the state in a civilised and proper manner. However, when the House resumed, the opposition leaders continued their protests and did not allow the House to function,' Basanta said.

Meanwhile, Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee in a separate press conference said the session was a 'dark day in the parliamentary democracy of India.' Congress leader O Ibobi Singh said, 'The assembly session was convened only to avoid a constitutional crisis and not for public interest. The state government is doing whatever it wants. The members are being deprived to raise questions.' 'We do not want to shout in the House, but we had no choice against the dictatorial attitude of the government,' Ibobi said, adding, 'There is no rule of law but dictatorship, that's why we condemn it.' 'We had urged for a five-day session but it was not allowed. We had requested for a discussion on the current situation of the state in public interest but that was not allowed. After obituary references, the session was adjourned. This is unfortunate,' Ibobi said.

All the 10 Kuki MLAs were absent from the House.