BJP MLA goes ‘missing’ in house

The absence of the Opposition notwithstanding, the ruling BJP on Thursday virtually whisked away its own MLA Arvind Patel out of the House on Thursday before he could cause any embarrassment to the state government on the power tariff issue.

Mr Patel, who is close to parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Mehta, had questioned the state government on the move of introducing meters in the agricultural sector and the government’s laxity in providing more connections to the farmers.

However, just before the final day’s proposal raised by him came up for discussion, he was seen having a discussion with the parliamentary affairs minister and medium and small irrigation minister Nitin Patel. He was later escorted out of the House by Mr Patel and did not return till the House had been adjourned sine die by the Speaker Dhirubhai Shah.

Apparently, the issue raised by Mr Patel had the ruling party running for cover, especially since the ADB loan for power sector reforms and the trifurcation of the Gujarat Electricity Board is hinged on the reforms to be carried out in the power sector.

Republished from Asian Age