Opposition Leader, 7 others suspended

By Our Special Correspondent

GANDHINAGAR, MARCH 22. In an unprecedented move in the Gujarat Assembly, the Leader of the Opposition and former Chief Minister, Mr. Amarsinh Chaudhary, was suspended from the House for the entire remaining period of the current budget session due to end on March 29.

Mr. Chaudhary's suspension, however, failed to restore order in the House which had to be adjourned a record seven times during two sessions today as the Congress members continued to chant slogans and disrupted the proceedings, disallowing the treasury benches to take up the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor for his address. Except for procedural wranglings interspersed with repeated adjournments, the House could not carry out its business on the agenda for the day.

The disturbances had started in the House since yesterday when the ruling BJP members took strong objection to Mr. Chaudhary's remarks that some relief materials send by the foreign countries for the benefit of the earthquake-affected people were cornered by some Ministers and other ruling party leaders.

Mr. Mehta and other BJP leaders had demanded Mr. Chaudhary to either withdraw the allegations or prove his charges with evidence but the Leader of the Opposition, who headed a Congress ministry in the State for four and half years from 1985, said a CBI inquiry would bring out the truth about the mishandling of the relief materials.

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