GUWAHATI, June 9 – The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has decided to take the opinion of lawyers before deciding on the next course of action against two suspended legislators Ali Akbar Mian and Abdul Jabbar after the Speaker of the Assam Legislative Assembly Prithibi Majhi rejected the party’s petition on their disqualification.
The Speaker rejected the petition of the AGP for disqualification of the two legislators on the ground that the party failed to file the petition within the stipulated time. The Chief Whip of the AGP Legislature Party Hitendra Nath Goswami pointed out that the petition was rejected on technical ground and not on merit. He said that the party would have to take the opinion of the lawyers before deciding on its next course of action.
Goswami pointed out that the Speaker did not examine the merit of the petition filed by the AGP and rejected the same on technical ground as the party failed to file the same within the stipulated period. He said that the party had requested the Speaker to condone the delay provision but he refused to do so. He said that the delay in filing of the petition was not intentional. He revealed that the filing of the petition was delayed as all the party members were busy with the Lok Sabha polls but the party had suspended Mian and Jabbar immediately after the Rajya Sabha polls on March 26, in which the two legislators violated the party whip.
The AGP legislature party secretary said that suspension is only a temporary punishment and the party would have to take the decision on whether to expel the two rebel legislators or not. “The Speaker rejected the petition on technical ground but the fact remains that Mian and Jabbar violated the party whip intentionally,” he added. It may be mentioned here that Mian and Jabbar violated the three-line whip of the AGP and did not cast their votes in the Rajya Sabha polls, which resulted in the defeat of the party candidate Birendra Prasad Baishya.