J-K Assembly: BJP legislators stage sit-in, demand apology by CM Abdullah

BJP legislators on Wednesday trooped into the well of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and staged a sit-in to press for Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's apology over his "unparliamentary remarks" against them.

This happened shortly after the BJP members, barring Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma, returned to the House at the end of the Question Hour after staging a walkout on the issue earlier.

BJP members gathered in the first row and continued chanting slogans against the government and seeking apology from the chief minister.

However, the speaker said they cannot raise the issue again after walking out from the House on the issue.

The BJP claimed that the chief minister left the House on seeing them entering the Assembly.

The speaker asked the House not to record the BJP protest and continued the proceedings. Later, they gathered in the well and staged a sit-in.

Earlier, the Assembly witnessed noisy scenes for over 30 minutes during the Question Hour.

As the House assembled for the day, BJP legislator Sham Lal Sharma stood up and demanded that the Leader of the House should apologise for his remarks or a statement be made by the speaker in absence of the chief minister.

"Such an incident has no precedent. The language used by the chief minister, the Leader of the House, is not language that can be used in any Parliament...I want to ask the Leader of the House whether he withdraws the words he used yesterday in this House about the BJP legislative party," Sharma said.

"If he does not withdraw them, then we leave it to his conscience — what his inner voice tells him — whether the words used in this House were appropriate or not. If the chief minister is not present here, then I leave it to the Chair and to make a response. It is your responsibility to say something about this matter," he said.

Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather tried to persuade the BJP members to allow the Question Hour to continue and rake up the issue when the Leader of the House is on the floor.

"Whatever happened yesterday (Tuesday) was unfortunate. Let the chief minister come and if he wishes he can make a statement. I can't make a statement on his behalf," the speaker said.

Health minister Sakeena Itoo accused BJP members of using unparliamentary words as well, particularly against Deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary and speaking lies in the house.

Choudhary suggested the chair to examine all the unparliamentary words used from both sides and expunge these from the records to continue the proceedings without any disruption.

Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma opposed the suggestion and refused to budge and later led the walkout, chanting slogans like "derogatory sarkar hai hai and unparliamentary sarkar hai hai" besides 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'.

Pandemonium broke out in the House during Abdullah's speech on Tuesday when BJP members objected to some of his remarks against them and demanded an apology.

Abdullah was winding up the discussion on the Union Territory's Budget presented on February 6 when BJP members termed certain remarks made by him "unparliamentary."

While the chief minister has ruled out apologising to BJP members for the remarks, saying he was willing to withdraw his words but was not allowed to speak amid repeated disruptions, Sharma said the party would not allow the House to function until the CM tendered an unconditional apology on the floor of the House.