Now, short sessions seem to have become a routine. If there was no Constitutional requirement, probably the assembly may not meet at all. In the monsoon session, it did not transact any business of Public interest.

The first day of the session was marked by a walkout by opposition members. No fruitful discussion took place on the opening day. On the second day, a sensational issue was raised by the members. It related to drug trials by doctors. Responding to questions, Minister for medical education Mahendra Hardia admitted that Prof. Hemant Jain of Indore’s “Chacha Nehru Children’s hospital” was paid Rs. 1.44 crore by multinational Pharma firms for conducting drug trials on his patients. Independent MLA Paras Sakhlecha alleged that the children, who were subjected to drug trials, were not registered. The member also disclosed that the companies concerned sponsored foreign visits of the doctors. He also wanted to know whether the government doctors obtained the permission of the government for the foreign trips. The minister announced that the government was contemplating stern action against the erring doctors. Barring this issue, no other matter was raised by the members,

Another scandal involving Indore doctors also came to light during the session. The Lokayukta raid on the house and other Establishments of Dr. Rajesh Kothari, Health officer of Indore Municipal Corporation, led to the unearthing of assets worth Rs.35 crores. The Health officer owns several restaurants, four shops in a prime commercial area and 4.5 hectares of land in Karnataka, besides a three-stories sprawling building. And all this, when his gross monthly salary is only Rs. 66 thousand.

In Madhya Pradesh, as in Uttar Pradesh, the health department has become a cesspool of corruption. Already, two directors of the health department are facing enquiry for minting crores of rupees.

The proceedings of the House were disrupted over the attack on the cavalcade of Digvijay Singh. Digvijay’s car was attacked by members of the Youth wing of the BJP when he was proceeding to his home town. Prior to that, he was shown black flags when he went to attend a programme. According to newspaper reports, a group of young BJP workers showed black flags to Digvijay Singh. They were protesting Singh’s recent remark that he did not rule out the involvement of RSS in the July 13 blasts in Mumbai. The moment Digvijay Singh saw the youth wing workers carrying black flags, newspaper reports say, he lost his cool and chased the BJP workers away. He even slapped one of them. The next day, on July 18, the incident figured in the assembly. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan described Digvijay Singh’s behaviour as “ugly and irresponsible”. He also made it clear that he would not do anything that would make Digvijay a “hero”. After raising the issue, the Congress members walked out of the House and resorted to slogan-shouting in the lobby. That day, no business was transacted owing to Digvijay issue.

The Congress members promptly moved an adjournment motion in the matter, which was admitted and discussed the next day. The Congress members mounted a bitter attack on the government. Many of them described the state of affairs in MP as “anarchic”. They said that the rule of law had given way to rule of the RSS in the state. It was the RSS and its affiliates that were ruling the roost in the state. The police, which failed to protect a former Chief Minister, can hardly be expected to protect the 7 crore people of the state.

On his part, the Chief Minister launched a fierce attack on Digvijay Singh. He said that Digvijay was making such irresponsible statements that even his own party (Congress) was finding it difficult to stand by him. He declined to accept the opposition demand for a judicial probe. Thus, the Digvijay affair took the toll of two days of the short assembly session.

Besides registering protest in the House, the Congress party workers and MLAs also courted arrest on the Digvijay issue. They also marched to Raj Bhawan to hand over a memorandum against the government.

The only business that was transacted in an orderly manner related to the condemnation of the Mumbai blasts.

It may be difficult to enumerate the causes for the decline of the Vidhan Sabha as a serious debating forum but it is a fact that it is increasingly failing in performing its duties. Gone are the days when the House used to seriously discuss the reports of various statutory and Constitutional institutions. For instance, the House did not discuss the report of the Lokayukta, which deals with corruption. (IPA Service)