Assam Congress Files Privilege Notice Against Himanta Sarma

The Congress on Wednesday filed a complaint against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for breach of privilege in the state Assembly for one of his remarks during a debate on Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha.

The Congress Legislature Party filed the complaint with the Principal Secretary of Assam Assembly, following which Mr Sarma withdrew the comments inside the House.

The Congress, however, has not withdrawn the privilege notice yet and demanded an apology from the chief minister instead of a mere withdrawal of the statement.

"Today in the House, the Leader of the House Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has stated that he is aware of the discussion held in the ACLP (Assam Congress Legislature Party) room. Further, he has also stated that some Hon'ble Member of the ACLP has informed him about the decision taken in the CLP meeting held on 28th March, 2023," said the complaint letter, which is accessed by PTI.

"We the Member of ACLP feel that this is a false statement by the Leader of the House. So, we Member of ACLP bring a Breach of Privilege against Leader of the House Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma (sic)," the notice signed by over 20 Congress MLAs read.

They urged the principal secretary to take up the notice for "further action" according to the law.

Earlier in the day, the Assam Assembly witnessed a ruckus after the Congress introduced an Adjournment Motion to discuss the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha following a court verdict.

Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia introduced the notice and said: "We want to send a resolution to the President of India requesting her to uphold the Constitution. The Constitution is the same for all and the executive must act fairly to protect it." Replying to the motion, Mr Sarma said, "It's unprecedented that we're expressing opinions on a judicial matter here. I know that a decision was taken by Congress Legislature Party last night to create noise here." Deputy Leader of Congress Legislature Party Rakibul Hussain objected to the statement.

Mr Sarma later withdrew the portion of his claim that someone from the opposition party had informed him of their plans on Tuesday night.

Asked if the Congress will withdraw the notice as Mr Sarma has already taken back his words, Saikia told PTI: "That was a very serious charge by the chief minister. It has put our party in a very bad light. We want an apology from him." Following a high drama in the Assembly earlier in the day, Speaker Biswajit Daimary was forced to adjourn the House twice, and suspended two Congress MLAs and an Independent legislator for the entire day.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)