Amid a commotion over the resolution voted in the House yesterday calling for the restoration of Article 370, Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Abdul Rahim Rather on Thursday rejected the BJP’s demand that he resign.
Instead, if the opposing party in the Union Territory didn’t believe in him, they were asked to submit a resolution of no-confidence.
“They are asking the Speaker to take back the resolution. The Speaker does not have the powers. Anything passed by the House can only be undone by the House itself. The Speaker has limited power in these issues as he has to preside, count, and give decisions based on the facts in front of him,” he told news agency.
The Speaker responded to the BJP’s call for his resignation by saying they ought to remove him using the “proper procedure.”
He said, “If they do not have faith in the Chair, shouting slogans is still not the way. There is a procedure of no-confidence motion. They should bring it. If the House passes it, I will go on my own, whether any member tells me or not. However, they will not do it but keep raising slogans.”
He also reminded them that the saffron party was the ruling party at the centre and criticised the MLAs for their “cheap sloganeering.”
“They should keep that in mind and be better behaved as compared to others,” Rather said.
During Thursday’s proceedings, he also defended the marshalling of some BJP MLAs from the House, claiming that the marshals had “clear instructions” to prevent anyone from accessing the Well.
An MLA must ‘lead by example’ for people outside the House, the Speaker added.
