BHOPAL:
Madhya Pradesh assembly was adjourned on Wednesday, the second day of the budget session, after paying tributes to departed leaders, including BJP veteran and former chief minister
Sundarlal Patwa
, and martyrs of Indian army, Hawaldar Vijay Kumar Shukla and Sepoy Devendra Kumar Soni.
Paying tributes to Patwa who passed away following a cardiac arrest on December 28 last year, Speaker Sitasharan Sharma recalled his association with Patwa. He said in 1989, Patwa bagged the honour of ‘Vidhan Gaurav’ during All India Speakers’ Conference. Paying tributes, chief minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan termed Patwa as an able administrator and said he was one of the pillars of BJP who took the party to masses. “Patwa was a powerful orator, an organiser and an able administrator who established the party in the state,” he said. He said he had stopped the departed leader from contesting from Chhindwara against Kamal Nath, who was a popular leader there, but he wanted to win the election. “I tried to stop Patwaji from contesting the Lok Sabha election from Chhindwara as
Kamal Nath was a stalwart in the area. He however, refused to budge, and everybody knows the results,” recalled the chief minister. Notably, Patwa defeated Nath on his home turf comfortably when the latter contested a bypoll in 1997 after his wife Alka Nath resigned from Chhindwara seat.
Former chief minister Babulal Gaur and acting leader of opposition Bala Bachchan also paid tributes to Patwa and other leaders. The House also paid rich tributes to other former members of the assembly who had passed away recently including, Tarun Chatterjee, Hukumchand Yadav, Jagdish Prasad Verma, Ramlal Yadav, Durgawati Patle and Babulal Arjun.
The House also paid homage to former Union ministers Surjeet Singh Barnala, Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, Rajya Sabha member E Ahmed, former MPs Manaklal Agrawal and Mankuram Sodhi and martyrs of Indian Army, Hawaldar Vijay Kumar Shukla and Sepoy Devendra Kumar Soni. The House observed a two-minute silence in respect of the departed souls after which the Speaker adjourned the House for the day. A training session for the budget session of assembly was also held followed by inauguration of kiosks in the assembly premises by self-help groups.