Ruckus over minister minister’s absence from House

Bhopal: A day after the Supreme Court reprimanded him for not tendering an apology to Army officer Col Sofiya Qureshi in a proper manner, Congress MLAs on Tuesday created a ruckus in the House over tribal affairs minister Vijay Shah's absence.Demanding Shah's resignation for using derogatory language for Col Qureshi, who was one of the two officers to brief the media on behalf of the armed forces during Op Sindoor, Congress MLA Mohanlal Walmik said Shah should have been in the House on Tuesday to table the proposal for beginning the process of election of an 11-member House panel for the welfare of SCs/STs. However, in his place, the proposal was being tabled by legislative affairs minister Kailash Vijayvergiya. "Where is the minister?" he asked.He accused the state govt of "shielding" the minister and demanded his resignation from the state cabinet. He was joined by several Congress MLAs, including Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Umang Singhar, in demanding Shah's resignation.As the din grew in the House, Vijayavergiya picked up the cudgels on behalf of the state govt and said the Congress, which raised question marks over the valour of Indian armed forces and the Balakot surgical strike, had no right to demand Shah's resignation.He was also seen asking other BJP MLAs to join him in attacking the Congress before the Speaker, Narendra Tomar, intervened and requested the agitated Congress MLAs to calm down and sit down in their seats. After normalcy was restored in the House, the Speaker proceeded further with the agenda of the House.The Supreme Court on Monday reprimanded Shah for not tendering a proper apology to Col Qureshi for his unsavoury comments on her and asked him to tender a public apology to the woman Army officer.