Oppn walkout of LS, RS adjourns twice over MP suspension issue

The suspension of 25 Congress members on Friday again led to protests by MPs from the Left, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal, who raised slogans and staged a walkout of the Lok Sabha proceedings.

Soon after the House assembled, SP member Dharmendra Yadav and RJD member Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav raised slogans seeking revocation of suspension of the Congress members for five days. They were joined by members of the Left parties.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan pointed out that the members have not given any written notice, but they could raise the issue during Zero Hour.

As Opposition members continued raising slogans from their seats, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said if those shouting slogans can guarantee that those suspended will cooperate with the Speaker in smooth functioning of the House and their "behaviour" will be up to the expectations, then only they should raise the issue.

He said he was happy that those boycotting the proceedings have understood the "public response" to their move.

At this stage, the Opposition members staged a walkout.

The minister also said the government wants everyone to be a partner in development by returning to the House and it would have no problem if due process was followed in revocation of the suspension.

The practice, he said, is that few of the suspended members meet the Speaker and assure her of their cooperation.

He said while Speaker names (identifying those involved in disorderly conduct) the members, the revocation of suspension can be decided by the House.

Expelled RJD member Pappu Yadav was one of the only two opposition members sitting in the first set of opposition benches. The other one was P Venugopal of AIADMK.

Yadav later raised the issue of "deteriorating" law and order situation in Bihar.

RS adjourns twice after noisy Cong protests

Amid continued protests by Congress, proceedings of the pre-lunch session in Rajya Sabha were washed out again on Friday as its members created ruckus to protest the 'dictatorial' attitude of government in suspending its 25 Lok Sabha MPs.

The Zero Hour and Question Hour could not be taken up as Congress members entered the Well and raised slogans, forcing the Chair to adjourn the House twice within minutes after it met.

When the House met after the first adjournment for Question Hour, Chairman Hamid Ansari's pleas for restoring order fell on deaf ears. SP member Naresh Agrawal, who had earlier sought to raise the issue of three BJP MPs writing to Chairman seeking action against Congress members protesting against Lalitgate, Vyapam scam and other issues, again tried to raise the matter, saying the House has no tradition of suspending members.

Congress members soon trooped into the Well and started raising slogans like "Tanashahi nahi chalegi (dictatorial attitude will not be tolerated)", "Modishahi nahin chalegi", "Modi model nahin chalega" and "Kala dhan kahan gaya, Chhota Modi kha gaya" (where did the blackmoney go, little Modi has gobbled it up).

Chairman Ansari asked members not to shout slogans saying "this is unbecoming".

As members of opposition and treasury benches indulged in heated exchanged, he said, "The members know the rules well. We don't need to teach rules". He then adjourned the House till 1430 hours.

Earlier in the morning, there was pandemonium in the Upper House soon after it mourned the death of former member Jagannath Singh and paid homage to freedom fighters.

After the laying of papers, Agarwal (SP) raised the issue of three BJP members giving notice seeking action against Congress MPs for raising slogans and trooping into the Well regularly.

The SP member alleged that the BJP MPs are trying to "pressurise" the Chairman by writing to him demanding action against the Congress members under rules 255 and 256 for entering the Well of the House.

Rule 255 relates to Chairman asking any member whose conduct is in his opinion grossly disorderly to withdraw immediately from the Council, while Rule 256 relates to the Chairman suspending a member who disregards the authority of the Chair or abuses rules of the Council by persistently and willfully obstructing the business.

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien asked Agarwal how he got a copy of the letter written by BJP MPs, slogan-shouting Congress members trooped into the Well of the House and raised slogans.  

As unrelenting Congress members continued to raise slogans, Kurien adjourned the House till 1200 hours.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi charged the Congress with not wanting to participate in a discussion on the issues it was raising.

He said Congress members, who have a "feudal mindset", are unable to "digest" the good work done by Modi government for the welfare of poor and were thus creating disturbance in the House to derail the growth progress.

"Congress party is acting as a roadblock to development and are unnecessarily disturbing Parliamentary process," he said.

Rajya Sabha has failed to transact any business ever since it met for the Monsoon session from July 21. The Congress has upped its protests by boycotting the Lower House and staging a dharna inside the Parliament complex since 25 of its Lok Sabha MPs were suspended by the Speaker on Monday.

The House also paid homage to martyrs of freedom struggle on the eve of 73rd anniversary of the Quit India movement, with Chairman Hamid Ansari mentioning that August 9 would mark the 73rd anniversary of the clarion call given by Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi for the British rulers to Quit India in 1942.

Members stood in silence as a mark of respect to the memory of the martyrs.