RS adjourned over fuel price hike, Oppn walks out of LS

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned twice while the opposition parties staged a walkout in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, voicing their protest against the increase in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas LPG.

Rajya Sabha

With slogan shouting opposition MPs trooping into the well of the House, proceedings were first adjourned till 12 noon and then till post-lunch.

Petrol and diesel prices were on Tuesday hiked by 80 paise a litre each while domestic cooking gas LPG rates were increased by Rs 50 per cylinder as state oil firms ended an over four and half month election-related hiatus in rate revision, fanning inflation fears.

While Congress and Trinamool Congress MPs carrying placards trooped into the well, other opposition MPs, including from the Left parties, stood in the aisles.

When the House met after the first adjournment, Deputy Chairman Harivansh called for the listed Question Hour to be taken and asked opposition parties to not disrupt the proceedings.

Unrelenting, the opposition members shouted slogans, drowning out Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertiliser Bhagwanth Khuba who was replying to the first listed question.

Harivansh asked TMC leader Derek O'Brien to call his party MPs back to their seats and allow Question Hour to proceed, saying precious national resources have been spent.

With opposition members continuing their vociferous protests, he adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm.

Earlier in the morning when the House met for zero hour proceedings, the Upper House was adjourned for a little less than an hour.

While TMC members stormed into the well of the House carrying placards, Congress, Left, Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena MPs were up on their feet, some shouting slogans.

This happened after Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said he has not accepted notices given by Shaktisinh Gohil (Congress), Dola Sen (TMC), V Sivadasan, Elamaram Kareem and John Brittas (Communist Party of India-Marxist) under rule 267, requiring setting aside of the listed agenda to take up a discussion.

Lok Sabha

Raising the issue after Question Hour, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the opposition parties had been claiming that the prices of diesel and petrol would increase after the election process.

Members of the Congress, the TMC, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Left parties raised slogans from their seats against the fuel price hike and demanded a rollback.

The opposition parties had tried to raise the issue of as soon as Lok Sabha met for Question Hour, but were disallowed by Speaker Om Birla.

Birla had told the opposition parties to raise the issue after Question Hour.