Jaipur: The Rajasthan Assembly witnessed noisy scenes on Friday over Leader of the Opposition Tikaram Jully's remark outside the House likening Speaker Vasudev Devnani to Mahabharata's 'Dhritarashtra' and accusing him of being partial to the ruling party.
Amid the uproar, the House proceedings were adjourned twice.
On Thursday, Congress MLAs walked out of the House to protest "unparliamentary language" used by the Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Avinash Gehlot against the party during the debate on the demand for grants.
Once outside the House, Jully told reporters that the speaker was acting like 'Dhritarashtra' and not objecting to the "unparliamentary" remarks made by the minister.
During the Zero Hour on Friday, Jully again raised the issue about the conduct and "unparliamentary language" used by Gehlot against the Congress.
Upset over the opposition leader's remark against the Chair from the previous day, Devnani said, "If the leader of the opposition uses the word Dhritarashtra for the Chair, I condemn it. He should apologise." "If someone feels that I am not impartial, you can bring a motion... You have unanimously given me this post. I will follow the rules, traditions and decorum," the speaker added.
He also said that if any indecent or unparliamentary remarks are found in Thursday's proceedings, then it would be discussed with the parliamentary affairs minister, the chief whip and the leader of the opposition.
To this, Jully responded, "We have no intention to disrespect the Chair. If the wrong words had been removed, the matter would not have escalated so much. We do not want to insult the Chair. We want the protection of the Chair. If you were hurt by any of our words, I apologise for that." However, when Jully said that a no-confidence motion against the speaker would be brought if needed, it resulted in an uproar and Devnani adjourned the proceedings for an hour. The House was adjourned for another 30 minutes later.
When the House resumed, the ruling party and the opposition assured Devnani of giving due respect to the Chair.
Devnani said, "Let us forget whatever happened today and create a new history and make new arrangements for the future." He also ordered the removal of unparliamentary language used by the ruling and opposition members from the proceedings of the House.
Dhritarashtra was a blind king in the epic Mahabharata who ignored the follies of his sons which led to the destruction of his clan.