Madhya Pradesh Assembly Budget session begins on stormy note

Bhopal: The first day of Budget session of Madhya Pradesh Assembly was adjourned amidst disruption and sloganeering by Congress over alleged nursing scam on Monday.

The opposition was demanding discussion on alleged nursing college scam which was not allowed by Parliamentary Affairs minister Kailash Vijayvergiya on the pretext of matter being under sub-judice. Leader of Opposition in the assembly Umang Singhar raised the issue and demanded discussion in the house on priority basis.

Chief minister Dr Mohan Yadav assured the opposition that his government was prepared for discussion on the matter but only in accordance with the convention of the house. "We (BJP government) believe in humility which should not be mistaken or construed as cowardice by the opposition," the Chief Minister said.

Earlier in the day, LoP Umang Singhar and Congress MLAs reached Vidhan Sabha donning the white color Apron as mark of symbolic protest against nursing scam.     

Speaking to presspersons, Singhar demanded the resignation of Health education minister Vishwas Sarang for being "hand-in-glove in the scam".

The grand old party also observed a sit-in dharna outside Vidhan Sabha after the adjournment demanding Sarang’s resignation. The protest was not limited to Vidhan Sabha as activists took to the streets and submitted memorandums to DMs in Bhopal, Jabalpur, Gwalior.

The CBI is probing the alleged nursing college scam pertaining to gross irregularities in the functioning of several nursing colleges that lacked infrastructure while some existed only on paper.

The budget session is likely to witness confrontations between Congress and the government on various issues, including the alleged nursing college scam and the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops.