Parliament dissolves into chaos, noise, anarchy

The winter session of Parliament was practically lost in pandemonium on Friday over the demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G spectrum issue, with the penultimate day also being paralysed due the unrelenting attitude of both the government and the opposition.

The logjam over the demand for JPC probe stalled both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for the 21st consecutive working day and both the Houses had to be adjourned till Monday, the last day of the ongoing session.

It was a repeat of scenes witnessed over the past four weeks with opposition members trooping into the well and creating pandemonium by raising slogans to demand the setting up of a joint parliamentary committee on the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

The Rajya Sabha, however, witnessed a new low with a Bharatiya Janata Party member snatching papers from the table of the Chairman, evoking a sharp reaction from the Treasury benches and leaving his party embarrassed.

When the House re-assembled at 2.30 pm after two adjournments in the pre-lunch sitting, members from BJP and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam continued their slogans after trooping into the well.

P J Kurien, who was in the chair, tried to persuade the members to allow him to take up Private Members' business but his request went unheeded.

As he continued with his efforts to run the House, BJP member Rudra Nararayan Pany snatched the agenda papers.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Minister V Narayanasamy and Congress members Jesudasu Seelam and Rajiv Shukla strongly objected to the member's behaviour.

An angry Seelam deplored the action and told the BJP member, "You should not do it, it is too much."

BJP members tried to salvage the situation with Deputy Leader of the party in the Upper House S S Ahluwalia taking the paper back from Pany's hands and putting it back on Kurien's table. At this point, Kurien adjourned the House till Monday.

The Lok Sabha was also adjourned for the day amid noisy scenes at 3.30 pm, soon after it re-assembled after two adjournments, to take up Private Members' business.

P C Chako, who was in the Chair, made repeated pleas to members to allow the House to take up Private Members' business, saying it was 'your time' and 'nobody has the right to encroach upon' it.

His pleas, however, went unheeded and he adjourned the House till Monday.

After the adjournment, Chako was seen meeting Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj and other BJP members.

Earlier, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned till noon, almost immediately after they assembled at 11 am. In the Lok Sabha, slogan-shouting opposition members were again in the well at noon. Speaker Meira Kumar directed laying of papers, which was done amid the din.

With unruly scenes continuing, she adjourned the House till 3.30 pm with an appeal that the Private Members' business should be allowed to be taken up when the House re-assembles.

"This is the last day of the session for private members' business to be taken up. So I appeal to all sections to allow private members business when the House re-assembles at 3.30 pm," Kumar said.

Some members displayed placards, with one of them reading "Desh me ghotala, videsh me apmaan, Yeh dekho UPA ki shaan (Scam in the country, disrespect abroad, this is the achievement of United Progressive Alliance)".

This was a reference to the 2G scam and the patting down of Indian Ambassador to United States Meera Shankar.

In Rajya Sabha, Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan sought to end the pandemonium by reminding the Parliamentarians that 'school children are watching you', implying that the members should behave.

The students were seated in the visitors' galleries. Ansari then adjourned the House till 2.30 pm for taking up private members' business.

The winter session is now left with only one working day, which also looks set to go waste in view of the adamant stand of both the government and the opposition over the JPC issue.