Dehradun, Feb 21 (PTI) A comment from the opposition benches on cabinet minister Premchand Aggarwal in Uttarakhand Assembly on Friday led to a heated exchange between him and Congress MLAs, prompting Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan to express her strong displeasure over their conduct and asking them not to behave like people in the streets.

Trouble broke out when someone from the opposition benches commented on Parliamentary Affairs Minister Aggarwal, who was responding to an adjournment motion moved by Congress member Manoj Tiwari during Zero Hour regarding problems being faced by people due to corruption in the district-level development authorities.

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The minister reacted angrily to this, asking whether a separate state of Uttarakhand was created to hear this kind of remark.

"Did we agitate for statehood to Uttarakhand to see this day? Comments are being made about Pahadi and Desi," Aggarwal said.

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He alleged that the opposition members wanted to take the state to disintegration. Accusing the opposition of repeatedly making such comments, the minister asked Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya to explain this to his party colleagues.

Seeing Aggrawal getting angry, other Congress members also stood up from their seats, speaking loudly and said nothing like this had been said and the minister was unnecessarily blowing the matter out of proportion.

There was uproar in the House for some time over the issue.

Expressing strong displeasure over this, the Speaker said, "We are behaving in a manner as if we were standing in the streets."

She described the House as a temple and advised the members not to behave in this manner, saying such comments are very unfortunate.

Bhushan said they all have fought for Uttarakhand and they are all people of Uttarakhand.

"We are not Pahadi or Desi, we are people of Uttarakhand," she said.

The Speaker said everyone should only think about taking Uttarakhand further.

She also ordered that the matter should not be included in the proceedings of the House.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)