Govt unduly favoured Robert Vadra in land deals: BJP

The Rajasthan assembly on Tuesday witnessed pandemonium after the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that government had unduly favoured Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra in land deals in the state.

BJP members stormed into the well as charges and counter-charges were exchanged between the ruling Congress and opposition over the issue and members from both sides got aggressive but stopped short of a fight after Parliament Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal intervened.

Trouble started in Question Hour when BJP whip Rajendra Rathore asked about land purchase in Bikaner and Jaisalmer by North India IT Park Pvt Ltd and details about its directors.

The revenue minister in his reply said the company purchased 254.47 acre lands in Bikaner and did not purchase land in Jaisalmer. He said Vadra was in the board of directors of the company, following which Rathore asked the minister to provide information about whether other companies in which Vadra was director had purchased lands in Bikaner.

When the minister said it was not part of the listed question, Rathore and other BJP members created uproar and accused the Congress of unduly favouring Vadra.

The Congress members also started shouting slogans against the BJP and alleged that lands in border areas were sold during the rule of the previous BJP government.

Amid vociferous protests, government chief whip Raghu Sharma shouted at BJP whip Rajendra Rathore which annoyed the opposition.

Some BJP legislators, including Rathore, moved towards the ruling party's benches and challenged Sharma, which led to heated arguments. Parliamentary affairs minister intervened and requested the BJP members to go back to their seats.

The opposition members obliged, but pandemonium continued for around 20 minutes. Leader of the opposition Gulab Chand Kataria asked the members to maintain decorum and the house came in order.

During the zero hour, the opposition demanded from the deputy speaker to appoint a committee of the house to probe the allegations against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of favouring his relatives in mines allotment in Jodhpur.

They again stormed into the well and shouted slogans against Gehlot. Deputy Speaker Ramnarayan Meena asked them to discuss the matter in business advisory committee meeting on March 21 following which the opposition members returned to their seats