Chandigarh, Feb. 26 -- A call by the Congress to gherao the Haryana assembly sparked uproar in the House on Wednesday with MLAs of the principal Opposition alleging that the Haryana Police had placed their workers under "house arrest" ahead of the proposed protest. As Zero Hour began, Congress legislators were on their feet seeking to raise the issue. They drew the attention of speaker Harvinder Kalyan, claiming that even as the party had given a call for a democratic protest, large number of its district level leaders had been placed under "house arrest". The Congress began preparing to corner the treasury benches towards the end of Question Hour. Congress MLAs BB Batra and Aftab Ahmed were seen in animated discussion. Aftab Ahmed, MLA from Nuh, took out paper sheets from his hand bag that contained photographs purportedly showing policemen and some persons inside a house. The copies of the photographs were then circulated among Congress members. Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda termed the development serious. "This is not an ordinary matter. This did not happen even during the Emergency. The government must answer who has done this and at whose behest this has happened," an angered Hooda said amid noisy scenes. The speaker sought to know where the alleged incident occurred and how it related to the functioning of the House. "We must follow rules. To maintain order in the House is the responsibility of the speaker," Kalyan said appealing for calm and reminding the members that the Punjab and Haryana high court had too taken a suo motu cognisance of traffic jam near the high court roundabout. It may be recalled that the high court judges were also caught in this traffic jam being attributed to the Congress' protest outside the assembly on Tuesday. Taking a strong exception the to speaker's remarks, Hooda retorted, "You are telling me as if I am a child. We are not kids. The high court took cognisance of the traffic jam and we had nothing to do with that. We are not responsible for (traffic chaos) what happened yesterday. Has the government given orders to house arrest our people?" Cabinet minister Krishan Kumar Bedi countered that the Congress was creating an issue to avoid participating in the proceedings. Chief minister Nayab Singh Saini said he was unaware of the allegations. "I had said yesterday also that the Chandigarh administration has designated a specific site in Sector 25 for demonstrations and Opposition is free to protest at the approved location. If there is something more that the Congress wants to say, they should go there. This (house arrest claim) is a new 'shagufa' being floated by the Congress," he said. "Congress is misleading people...we must be careful... police had neither detained nor restricted any individual. The 'house arrest' claim is yet another attempt to mislead public," he added. The commotion continued for nearly 25 minutes before the Congress members staged a walkout from the House inprotest. The Congress had earlier announced plans to gherao the assembly as part of its "MNREGA Bachao Sangram" campaign. Senior central Congress leaders were slated to attend the protest, along with other party functionaries. In a statement issued later, the Congress alleged that as soon as authorities learnt about the protest call, Haryana Police placed several senior Congress leaders under house arrest in various districts to prevent them from reaching the assembly. "The Chandigarh Police set up barricades at multiple points to stop the protesters and detained many workers along with all senior Congress leaders," Congress said....