Gandhinagar, Dec 20 (IANS): Congress MLAs staged walkout from the Gujarat Assembly in protest on Tuesday.

They alleged that the ruling party was abusing power, not following the procedures and snatching away the rights of the opposition members.

Senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia while addressing the media said, "It is unfortunate that on the first day of the Assembly session, we have to stage a walkout in protest. The reason for the walkout is that the ruling party did not give enough time to discuss the vote of thanks to the Governor for his address in the Assembly."

Citing the Assembly rules, the Congress leader said normally the Speaker calls members of ruling and opposition benches to discuss the business of the House. That was not followed. In the morning, a new Speaker was elected, and in the second sitting the Governor addressed the House. Till members staged a walk, they were not provided with a hard copy of the governor's speech. Normally a vote of thanks resolution is discussed for two to three days, today it was kept only for two to three hours."

"Just because the ruling party is having a thumping majority in the House that does not mean it can bend or subvert the Assembly rules and run the House on its whims," said the Congress leader.