In garb of discussing farmers' plight, Haryana MLAs get back at each other

CHANDIGARH: Haryana MLAs' day-long orientation session regarding conduct inside the assembly on February 20 seemed to be of no avail as legislators from various parties on Wednesday cast aspersions on each other during the call attention motion about crop damage due to untimely rains in the state last week.
All those who participated in the discussion termed the subject as a serious issue concerning farming community, but used it to target their political rivals.
Soon after speaker Kanwar Pal Gujjar announced to take up the call attention motion, heated arguments ensued among Congress and BJP MLAs. It took 20 minutes for the House to start the discussion and that too amid unruly scenes and use of harsh words by legislators.
First to be seen using strong words were Shakuntala Khatak, two-time Congress MLA from Kalanaur, and Bimla Chaudhary, first-time BJP legislator from Pataudi assembly constituency. 'Tu baith jaa, tu baith jaa naa (you just sit down),' is how Chaudhary addressed Khatak who was defending her party colleagues-former speaker Kuldeep Sharma, Palwal MLA Karan Singh Dalal and CLP leader Kiran Choudhry-who were protesting the call attention motion while accusing the speaker of having dropped their adjournment motion on the same issue on Tuesday.
Ruling party MLAs Gian Chand Gupta, Naib Singh Saini, Pawan Saini and Latika Sharma took on Dalal and Kuldeep of the Congress party as the latter termed Gupta as vyaparion ka vakil (advocate of traders) and BJP as 'kisan virodhi sarkar' (anti-farmer government).
All MLAs had sought apology from Sharma and Dalal, who kept provoking BJP legislators. Referring to compensation, BJP MLAs, including agriculture minister Om Parkash Dhankar and health minister Anil Vij, reminded Congressmen of compensation cheques of Rs 50 and Rs 30 given to farmers for damaged crops. Vij even went on to ask Kiran if she knew anything about farming.
"The way discussions are progressing, it amounts to humiliation to farmers who work hard to ensure food for us. We should have discussed the measures for rehabilitation of farmers," said Anand Singh Dangi, a former minister and Congress MLA from Meham.