New Delhi, November 23
The month-long winter session of Parliament began today with both houses adjourning for the day after condoling the deaths of former President K.R. Narayanan, parliamentarians, victims of terror attacks in the country and the loss of innocent lives in the devastating quake in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan.
Paying his tribute to Narayanan, who died November 9, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said, “He was a people’s leader in every sense of the term and always identified himself with the deprived and the downtrodden”.
He described Narayanan as a “sagacious statesman” and “an ardent champion of secularism and constitutional propriety, a friend of the underprivileged and a fine human being who strove all through his life for building a progressive and rational egalitarian society”.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Bharion Singh Shekhawat said in the death of Narayanan, the country had lost an eminent scholar, a seasoned diplomat, a statesman, an able administrator and a distinguished parliamentarian.
Parliament also mourned the deaths of its member Prakashbapu V. Patil from Maharashtra and 11 other former MPs, including former Central ministers H.K.L. Bhagat and Madhu Dandavate.
The Lok Sabha expressed grief over the death of thousands in the October 8 earthquake in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan.
The Lok Sabha condemned the October 29 terrorist bomb blasts in New Delhi and the November 9 terror attacks in the Jordanian capital.
The Rajya Sabha, too, adjourned for the day after paying condolences to those killed in the terror attacks.
Meanwhile, newly elected members Deepender Singh and Bangshagopal Chowdhary today took oath and signed roll of members and took their seat in the Lok Sabha.
While Deepender Singh, a Congress nominee, was elected from Rohtak in Haryana, Chowdhary, a CPM member, was elected from West Bengal’s Asansol constituency. Both were elected to the House in the recently held byelection.
Former Congress MP Sunil Dutt’s daughter Priya, who won from Mumbai North-West, and the Communist Party of India’s Panniyan Ravindran, who won from Thiruvananthapuram, did not take oath. Both were declared elected on Tuesday.
A day after the rout of the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD in the Assembly poll, neither the Railways Minister nor any of his party colleagues in the government were present in either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha.
Barring Devendra Prasad Yadav in the Lower House, no RJD member was seen in Parliament during the brief proceedings.
The Lok Sabha saw NDA’s Chief Ministerial candidate Nitish Kumar in his usual seat on the second row behind JD-U president George Fernandes.
As the Lower House assembled for the session, some Opposition members were heard shouting “Jai Bihar”.
