Chandigarh, March 8 (IANS) The entire opposition present in the Haryana assembly Monday was suspended from the house for the rest of the budget session, as they disrupted proceedings demanding a debate on the price rise issue. The decision has been assailed by the opposition parties.

The suspensions were announced by Speaker Harmohinder Singh Chatha, after the assembly was adjourned thrice in just over one hour.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Anil Vij was the first to raise the issue during the question hour but Chatha asked him to raise it during zero hour.

When the zero hour started, Vij raised the issue again and the speaker told him that his adjournment motion has been clubbed with another adjournment motion moved by the INLD and both were converted into a call attention motion.

This led to strong objection from the BJP and INLD leaders. Vij and INLD state president Ashok Arora rushed towards Chatha’s seat while other opposition members shouted slogans, at which the speaker adjourned the house for 30 minutes.

When the house re-assembled, chaos continued and again Chatha adjourned the house for a second time for a few minutes.

After the house re-assembled, pandemonium continued inside and Chatha adjourned the house for the third time.

The main opposition party, INLD, strongly condemned the suspension.

‘It is totally unprecedented and has happened for the first time in the history of the Haryana assembly. Earlier also, the Congress never gave time to the opposition to speak but today they have crossed all the limits,’ former chief minister and INLD chief Om Parkash Chautala said.

‘This is a clear attempt to muzzle our voice. The Congress-led government is totally failure in curbing the rising prices of essential commodities and they are getting restless with each passing day. It is intolerable and they cannot stop us from highlighting their wrong doings,’ he added.

BJP state president Krishan Pal Gurjar also condemned the move.

‘They are answerable to the public for all their decisions and policies. We are also the elected representatives of public and they have to answer all our queries in the house,’ he said.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, however, supported the decision of the speaker.

‘The opposition was unnecessarily interrupting the session’s proceedings. There is nothing wrong in this decision,’ he said.

The ruling Congress has 45 legislators in the house, including five defectors from the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC). It is supported by seven Independent legislators and the sole Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) member.

The INLD has 31 legislators in the 90-member assembly and enjoys the support of the lone Akali Dal member. The BJP has four legislators, of whom three were present in the house.

The sole HJC legislator, Kuldeep Bishnoi, is not attending the session and is sitting on a protest in Chandigarh. He is demanding justice for his party cadres who were caned by the police during a protest rally here last week.