Gandhinagar, March 16 (IANS): The opposition Congress in Gujarat on Monday staged a walkout demanding postponement of the ongoing budget session in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Shailesh Parmar, the Congress MLA from Danilimda assembly constituency, raised the issue of the coronavirus outbreak and asked the House to postpone the ongoing budget session 2020-21. The proposal was, however, rejected by Speaker Rajendra Trivedi.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, in a reply, said: "Right now, there is no need for such an action as there has been not a single positive case in the state. The budget session is already midway and there is no question of going for 'Vote on Account'. As public representatives we should worry about the public and not about ourselves."

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel also backed him and said: "There is no need to panic. All our students from affected countries have been brought back safely and at the earliest."

Trivedi, on his part, said: "From now on, every visitor to the House will be required to sanitise their hands at the entrance. So, there is no need for such a proposal to be granted regarding the coronavirus scare."

The replies and responses agitated the Congress MLAs and they began shouting slogans and left the House. Interestingly, many of the BJP members were bidding them "goodbye". The speaker said: "Don't worry about them, they will be back tomorrow."

Paresh Dhanani, the Leader of Opposition, said: "Maharashtra state assembly speaker has also decided to stop the ongoing budget session of Maharashtra assembly. Other neighbouring states are also thinking of following this due to the coronavirus crisis."

Earlier on Monday, the Speaker announced that on Saturday, four Congress MLAs tendered their resignations and on Sunday one more resignation came from the Congress.

The MLAs who have resigned are Pravin Maru, Pradhyumansinh Jadeja, J.V. Kakadiya, Soma Ganda Patel and Mangal Gawit (Dang).