With Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray targeting some Members of Parliament from Bihar, including Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Wednesday said that such references amounted to contempt of the House.
Devendra Prasad Yadav of the RJD raised the matter during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, following which Chatterjee asked the member 'to follow the procedure', after which action could be taken.
Later, Yadav gave a notice of breach of privilege against Thackeray, accusing him of "lowering the dignity of MPs as also Parliament."
Prabhunath Singh and Rajiv Ranjan 'Lallan' of Janata Dal -United also took up the issue in the House but were told by the Speaker that the matter had already been discussed in their absence.
Several MPs, including Vijay Krishna and Ram Kirpal Yadav of RJD, Iliyas Azmi of the Bahujan Samaj Party and Surendra Goel of the Congress have also supported the move.
In the editorial, Thackeray said, "They (Biharis) are not wanted in Southern India, Assam and also Punjab and Chandigarh. The Biharis have antagonised local population wherever they had settled. The Uttar Pradesh - Bihari MPs have shown their ingratitude towards Mumbai and Maharashtra with an anti-Marathi tirade in Parliament."
The editorial also termed Prabhunath Singh, an MP from Maharajganj in Bihar, as a murderer, saying, "His place is in jail but he is in Parliament."
Referring to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, Thackeray said that those who have turned Bihar into a hell should not try to teach nationalism to Mumbai and Maharashtra.