Coal-gate: RS adjourned twice over uproar by BJP

The Rajya Sabha was on Monday adjourned twice during the Question Hour as Samajwadi Party members stalled proceedings demanding special status to Uttar Pradesh while the Left parties raised the issue of rising onion prices.

After Chairman Hamid Ansari made obituary references to passing away of former members Dilip Singh Judev and S M Laljan Basha and mourned the death of navy personnel in a submarine accident, members of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the SP and Left parties sprang to their feet.

Ansari asked members to speak one by one and allowed M Venkaiah Naidu (BJP) to make his submission.

Naidu said that the files pertaining to coal block allocation have gone missing and it was a serious issue. Ansari then asked him to raise the issue during Zero Hour. As the BJP members took their seats, SP members stood up demanding special status and an economic package for Uttar Pradesh. The SP is the ruling party in UP.

"Uttar Pradesh ko vishesh rajya ka darja do (give special status to Uttar Pradesh)," they shouted. Left members of Parliament too were up on their feet carrying banners seeking check on spiralling onion prices.

Ansari asked members to resume their places so that Question Hour could be taken up. He asked them not to show posters. As his request went unheeded, Ansari adjourned the House for 15 minutes.

When the House reassembled, SP members were again on their feet demanding special status for UP. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla tried to calm the agitating members saying a committee constituted by the government to decide on criteria for special status to states is yet to submit its report.

He said any decision would be taken only after the committee submits its report. The SP members, however, kept raising slogans, forcing Ansari to adjourn the House till noon.