M.P. Assembly’s Budget Session begins with uproar over Indore deaths during Governor’s address

The Budget Session of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly witnessed a stormy opening on Monday (February 16, 2026) with the Opposition Congress MLAs creating an uproar during Governor Mangubhai Patel’s address over the recent diarrhoea outbreak in Indore due to government-supplied contaminated water that caused several deaths. 

Earlier, the day’s proceedings commenced with the singing of six stanzas of the national song Vande Matram in accordance with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs’ January 28 directive.

On February 12, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav had welcomed the MHA’s move and said that the State will implement the directive. 

In the Assembly, the uproar began when Governor Patel was speaking about the government’s water related initiatives and schemes, and said highlighted a project to divert the Kanh river away from the Shipra river in Ujjain to prevent the latter from getting polluted.

During this, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly and Congress MLA Umang Singhar rose and alleged that several crucial issues such as providing clean tap water to rural households and the water contamination deaths were ignored in the Governor’s address. 

Mr. Singhar said, “Honourable Governor, you skipped the page about ‘nal jal’ (tap water). You mentioned Shipra but did not even reach Indore where such a huge tragedy took place in Bhagirathpura.”

Addressing the Speaker, Mr. Singhar said that the Governor had “forgotten” about the issue of clean water. He was joined by various other Congress MLAs. 

The LoP’s objection led to a chaotic situation in the House between the Opposition and Treasury Benches even as Mr. Patel continued to read his address. While the Congress MLAs resorted to sloganeering against the government and objected to the Governor’s address, ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs thumped benches in support of it. 

The Governor only read select parts from his complete written address that is available on the Assembly’s website. After Mr. Patel proceeded from the Assembly, Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar said that the remaining parts of his address will be considered as read.

The tragedy in Indore’s Bhagirathpura area that began in December, 2025, has so far claimed 16 lives, as per an audit report submitted by the government authorities in the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The audit was conducted by a panel of doctors from the State-run Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Medical College, which termed causes of at least eight deaths as inconclusive. 

However, local residents and media reports claim that at least 35 people have died in the lower-middle class locality of Indore. The tragedy was caused by contaminated water supplied by the BJP-ruled Indore Municipal Corporation and various government investigations have confirmed a polymicrobial infection in water and high levels of fecal coliform in it due to various sources, including mixing of sewage and drinking water in the decades-old close-running underground pipelines.   

The Budget Session will continue until March 6 and the Budget will be presented on February 18.