New Delhi, December 3
The day two of the winter session of Parliament was marked by pandemonium as members in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha forced an adjournment in both Houses by vociferously raising the issues of killings of Biharis in Assam and the alleged seeking of favours from PSUs by some ministers, and the Judeo bribery scandal.
The Rajya Sabha Chairperson Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was forced to adjourn the House for the day as an adamant and vociferous opposition pressed for the suspension of the Question Hour and a statement from Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the Judeo bribery scandal.
The Upper House was first adjourned for 35 minutes during Question Hour and later reassembled amidst wordy duel between the treasury and the Opposition Benches.
In the Lok Sabha, as several members belonging to the Opposition and the NDA constituents demanded the suspension of Question Hour for discussion on the recent killings of Biharis in Assam and the alleged interference of some ministers in the functioning of PSUs.
In the Lok Sabha, as soon as Speaker Manohar Joshi announced the commencement of Question Hour, several members were on their feet, vociferously demanding immediate discussion on issues for which they gave notices.
As Mr Prabhunath Singh (Samata) stood up to explain to the Speaker why Question Hour be suspended and his adjournment motion be taken up, several members disrupted him.
While Mr Mohan Delkar of Daman wanted to take up the issue of the death of 20 schoolchildren in a bridge collapse in Daman three months ago, Mr Ramji Lal Suman of the Samajwadi Party raised the issue of the CVC reportedly naming six ministers.
Mr Prabhunath Singh said several Biharis were killed in Assam on November 9, and students from Bihar were not allowed to appear for the railway examination.
Other members from Bihar including expelled Samata Party member Raghunath Jha and Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav (Independent), trooped to the well of the House protesting against the killing of Biharis in Assam.
“Assam Chief Minister is involved”, Mr Prabhunath Singh charged and the police in the state remained a “silent spectator”. Mr V.K. Malhotra as well as Mr Madan Lal Khurana also supported Mr Singh.
This provoked immediate protests from the Congress members. At one point of time, Mr Ranjan almost came to blows with protesting Congress members before CPM leader Somnath Chaterjee intervened and separated them.
Congress members including Adhir Ranjan Choudhury, Saiduzzaman and Madhusudan Mistri and Bhan Singh Bhaura (CPI) demanded discussion on corruption issues, including the bribery case involving a former Union Minister.
As order could not be restored, the Speaker adjourned the House till 12.30 p.m. and said that the Business Advisory Committee meeting was preponed to discuss the priority of the issues raised.
As soon as the House re-assembled at 12.30 p.m., members from the Samata, the Congress and some other Opposition rushed to the well of the House, raising the issues even as Deputy Speaker P.M. Sayeed made an attempt to conduct business in the House by asking ministers to table papers listed against their names.
As nothing could be heard in the din, Mr Sayeed adjourned the House till 2 p.m. Immediately after the post-lunch session resumed a 2 p.m., Opposition members, demanded a statement from the government on the killing of Biharis in Assam. The Deputy Speaker adjourned the House for the day.
