Guwahati, March 07 2009: The employees of Assam Legislative Assembly heckled two MLAs in Guwahati on Saturday. The action of the employees were prompted after the two MLAs allegedly roughed up and then physically assaulted an under secretary.

The under secretary, Jyotiprasad Barua, is attached to Leader of Opposition Chandramohan Patowari of Asom Gana Parishad.

The incident occurred minutes before the House was to meet to pass the interim budget.

Moneswar Brahma and Maheswar Bodo, both from Bodoland People's Front (BPF), picked up a quarrel with the under secretary and then allegedly beat him up after they were "jostled" by him at the Assembly corridor.

Humiliated, but still the under secretary did not fray his tempers as the House was to meet soon.

Apparently, except for the two MLAs, none of the members had any inkling about the incident and thus the matter did not come up for discussion during the one-hour-long session.

But as soon as the session was over, the under secretary along with employees of the Assembly gheraoed an office of the BPF after spotting the two MLAs there.

They shouted slogans: "We will not tolerate Jungle Raj here", "There is no place for militancy in the Assembly" etc.

Later, the two legislators were literally dragged to the office of the Speaker by the protesting employees.

Normalcy was restored after the Speaker assured them that he would look into the matter.

The Leader of the Opposition described the incident as very "unfortunate".

"This is very unfortunate.

We all should know how to abide by ethics," he added.

None of the BPF spokespersons was available for comments.

It may be mentioned the BPF, led by Hagrama Muhilary, is an ally of ruling Congress in the state and most of its legislators were members of erstwhile insurgent group Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT).

The BLT went overground a few years back following the creation of Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District by the Government.

Another Bodo insurgent outfit National Democratic Front of Bodoland has been in ceasefire with the Government since 2005.

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