BJP flouted norms while passing motion against BBC in MP Assembly: Congress

Bhopal, March 14 (IANS) Congress MLAs on Tuesday walked out of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly while accusing the ruling BJP of not following democratic norms on the 'censure motion' against the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Leader of Opposition Govind Singh said the motion was brought during 'Zero Hour' without prior notice.

He also contended that the motion wasn't brought before the House business advisory committee for discussion, and therefore, saying the the motion was passed unanimously by the House will be incorrect as the Congress was opposing it.

"Parliamentary normes were not followed. It was neither debated in the house nor brought before the business advisory committee of the Assembly and therefore, it is incorrect to say that the motion was approved unanimously," Singh said before he along with all his party MLAs walked out of the House.

On Monday, the Assembly had passed the censure motion against the BBC after it was introduced as a private member resolution. It came days after the Gujarat Assembly passed a resolution requesting the Centre to take strict action against the BBC for "tarnishing the image and popularity of PM Modi".

While the Congress members walked out, Speaker Girish Gautam clarified that the censure motion against BBC was passed with a voice vote and not "unanimously".

After that, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra also countered the charge saying most of the Congress MLAs, except for its state chief Kamal Nath, were present when the motion against BBC was passed but the Leader of Opposition didn't speak then.