Jharkhand Assembly adjourned till 3 pm

Amid uproarious scenes in Jharkhand Assembly, Pro Tem Speaker on Friday adjourned the House again till 3 pm.

The Shibu Soren Government in Jharkhand appeared to defy the Supreme Court directive on the issue of trial of strength in the Assembly, which was adjourned five times this morning with rival sides clashing over procedures.

HT Image

Meeting in the backdrop of a Supreme Court directive to hold the trial of strength on Friday, uproarious scenes were witnessed with the two sides clashing over the role of pro-tem speaker Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu in conducting business of confidence vote.

When the House met at 11 am, NDA members led by former Chief Minister and BJP Legislature Party leader Arjun Munda, who claim support of 41 MLAs in the 81-member House, said that the pro-tem speaker should not conduct any business other than supervising the trial of strength as directed by the Supreme Court.

Immediately Treasury bench members were on their legs and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Girinath Singh told the Chair that pro-tem speaker cannot conduct the trial of strength and he should only go by the Governor's directive leading to noisy scenes and adjournment of the House in phases till 2 pm.

The pro-tem speaker initially adjourned the House till 11.40 pm and when it met the ruling party members rushed to the well displaying a newspaper which had a photograph of five Independent MLAs along with BJP President LK Advani.

They claim that a person standing behind them was holding a gun, which shows they were "kept in captivity at gun point."