The opening day of the budget session of Tripura assembly on Friday witnessed uproar over opposition’s demand for action against BJP MLA Jadab Lal Nath who was caught on camera watching a porn clip in the earlier session. Amid chaos, the Speaker suspended five MLAs from TIPRA, CPI(M) and Congress for the day on the recommendation of leader of the house Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha.
When the house met, the opposition members started raising the demand of action against Mr. Nath who had earlier confessed of having ‘briefly seen the porn video’ after allegedly receiving a link on his mobile phone. He pleaded innocence all through.
The agitating members disrupted the budget speech of finance minister Pranjit Singh Roy as they insisted on discussion and action on the ‘porn clip’ issue. Senior Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman who is known for stunts sprinkled what he called holy Ganga water on the treasury members to ‘purify the house’.
TIPRA members Brishaketu Debbarma and Ranjit Debbarma climbed on top of their desks and screamed at the Speaker. At one point CPI(M), TIPRA and Congress members rushed to the well of the house and started raining slogans.
Amid pandemonium, Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha requested the Speaker to suspend members disrupting the budget proceedings. The Speaker immediately ordered suspension of Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman, CPI(M)’s Nayan Sarkar, TIPRA MLAs – Brishaketu Debbarma, Ranjit Debbarma and Nandita Reang.
Entire opposition staged a walkout to protest suspension of members and the Speaker’s refusal to initiate action against Jadab Lal Nath who was elected from Bagbassa constituency in north Tripura.
After restoring order, the finance minister completed his budget speech. He proposed a budget of ₹27,654.40 crore for 2023-24.
The allocation saw an increase of 9.87% from 2022-23 fiscal.
