Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has told newcomers in the assembly to be decent and not misuse their privileges. She has also said they should be given the first opportunity to speak.
The assembly secretariat organised a two-day workshop to acquaint the new MLAs — 190 of them — about parliamentary rules and procedures.
Mayawati said, "There are problems galore. Accept problems as a challenge. But don't misuse your privileges… Newcomers should be given the first opportunity to speak…Senior MLAs should also take responsibility to guide newcomers."
She said among the various parties, BSP had always been the first to take action on complaints about its MPs and legislators.
Besides the BSP's 128 new MLAs, there are 26 newcomers from the Samajwadi Party and 20 from the BJP. The Indian National Congress and the Rashtriya Lok Dal have six new members each. There are three new faces among independents while a new member has been elected from the Rashtriya Parivartan Dal.
The new members were keen to know about budgetary procedures. "Why is there a deficit budget all the time?" asked an MLA.
The new members were keen to know about budgetary procedures. "Why is there a deficit budget all the time?" asked an MLA.
Another wanted to know why a cut motion was moved to deduct Re 1 from budgetary grants. Chhattisharh Vidhan Sabha speaker Prem Prakash Pandey gave most of the answers. Vidhan Sabha speaker Sukhdev Rajbhar called upon the members to uphold democratic values, while Dr Radehy Mohan Agarwal talked to them about the procedure for asking questions.