After the Governor’s address, there was a break of half an hour. The session resumed again to pass resolutions on the obituary. Seen as a mark of respect to the deceased, the general practice followed over the years is that all members remain present to pay their homage to those dead, including national leaders, freedom fighters, martyrs and relatives of the members of the House.

However, when the obituary session began, none of the INLD members were present. No INLD legislator made his appearance till the adjournment of the session.

Condemning the incident,Congress MLA and Chairman of Haryana Administrative Reforms Commission, Karan Singh Dalal questioned the motive behind their absence. Dalal suggested to the House to form a committee to teach members lessons in conduct during the session. Speaker Dr Raghubir Singh Kadian too questioned the INLD members’ decision to remain absent from the Obituary session.

One reason for the INLD leaders remaining absent was the fact that major portion of the session was devoted to paying tributes to Ranbir Singh, the last surviving Member of the Constituent Assembly and father of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Talking to The Indian Express later, Dalal said it was shameful on the part of INLD members to be not present when homage was being paid to the respected leaders, freedom fighters and martyrs. “Yeh chhotepan ki soch hai. Yeh unka ochapan hai. It is a matter of grace for the legislators to pay respect to those dead. By absenting yourself from the session, you are insulting the leaders and the House. I have never seen such a thing happen in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha in the past,’’ said Dalal.