On the last day of the Monsoon session of the state assembly, the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government in Chhattisgarh on Saturday survived a no-trust motion moved by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The motion reportedly was defeated by voice vote shortly after 1 am following a 13-hour debate.
While Congress has 71 members in the 90-member assembly, BJP has 13 MLAs in the House.
All about the stormy debate
The House since Friday witnessed a stormy debate over the no-confidence motion as the Opposition members targeted the Congress government over alleged scams, non-fulfilment of its poll promises and “deteriorating” law and order situation.
As per media reports, the treasury bench rejected the Opposition parties' charges as they failed to come up with any concrete issues and its charge-sheet lacks facts.
Responding to the debate, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel also asserted that the opposition charge-sheet lacks facts and by bringing it, the BJP gave a chance to the government to highlight its achievements in the assembly.
Shortly before CM concluded his speech, the BJP members started sloganeering against the government claiming that it failed to give replies to the opposition’s allegations and walked out from the House.
Slamming the Centre, Baghel said the Enforcement Directorate has been given enormous powers which is not in the interest of the country.
“I strongly oppose the move to give powers to ED to probe GST related cases,” he added.
BJP's move against Congress
The debate started on Friday when BJP presented a 109-point "chargsheet" against the Baghel government and accusing it of corruption and failure to fulfil poll promises.
The BJP had moved the no-confidence motion against the government on Wednesday and discussion on it was fixed for Friday.
Initiating the debate, BJP MLA Brijmohan Agrawal hit out at the Congress and said the no-trust motion has been brought as this government had turned "deaf and dumb" and become a "murderer of democracy".
The atrocities of the Baghel government on youth were greater than those committed by the British, he claimed.
He referred to the induction of Mohan Markam into the Baghel-led cabinet after replacing him as Congress' Chhattisgarh unit chief and removal of minister Premsai Singh Tekam from the cabinet.