BJP, TDP protest in Rajya Sabha

Rajya Sabha was on Thursday adjourned till noon after vociferous protests from BJP and TDP members over naming of their party colleagues in the House bulletin for disrupting proceedings. M. Venkaiah Naidu (BJP) raised the issue of Rajya Sabha Bulletin listing Wednesday’s proceedings of the House, naming 20 members of the BJP and 2 of TDP for disrupting proceedings. He said such naming of members in the House had never happened even when members from the ruling parties tore women’s reservation legislation.

“Why this discrimination? What is the rule? Naming of members of one party and showing discrimination (against others) is not acceptable. We denounce it,” he said, adding the Bulletin had not named members of the ruling party who too had disrupted the proceedings over creation of Telangana.

“What is this practice? Who decided this?” he asked. “This is an insult and discrimination against main opposition party. This is infringement of our rights. I don’t know if it has happened with your (Chairman Hamid Ansari’s) knowledge.”

He asked why the name of a Congress member, who too was in the Well on Wednesday, does not figure in the Bulletin. All this while, Y.S. Chowdary and C.M. Ramesh (TDP), who had been named in the Bulletin of Wednesday as well as of August 6 for “disorderly conduct in violation of rules and etiquettes of Rajya Sabha,” stood in the Well with a black cloth on their mouth.

Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley said never had expression of protests by several sections of the House figured in Rajya Sabha Bulletin. He said the Bulletin did not name the ruling party member who menacingly marched towards a member of the supporting party and another member who was in the Well over Telangana issue. Mr. Ansari said the issue can be discussed in his Chamber.

But, this did not satisfy Mr. Jaitley who along with other members of his party staged a walkout.

V. Maitreyan (AIADMK) said Govardhan Reddy (Cong) had on Wednesday quarrelled with the two TDP members in the Well and had to be pulled away by Renuka Chowdhury (Cong) and asked why he was not named in the Bulletin. Mr. Ansari said if there was a mistake in the Bulletin, it should be pointed out.

Mr. Maitreyan, however, was not satisfied and he too staged a walk out.

The Chairman then asked Mr. Chowdhury and Mr. Ramesh to go back to their places.

“Anything you say from here is irrelevant...you have full freedom to speak from your assigned place and nowhere else,” he said.

But, the two members continued to protest even as Congress members shouted them down.

Admist the din, Mr. Ansari adjourned the House till noon.

The House Bulletin said: “Today (7.8.2013), the Chair adjourned the House due to gross disorderly conduct in violation of rules and etiquettes of Rajya Sabha by the following Members who entered the ‘Well’ of the House and persistently and willfully obstructed the proceedings of the House.”

Besides Mr. Chowdhury and Mr. Ramesh, it named Jagat Prakash Nadda, Parshottam Khodabhai Rupala, Avinash Rai Khanna, Smriti Zubin Irani, Dharmendra Pradhan, V.P. Singh Badnore, Om Prakash Mathur, Bharatsinh Prabhatsinh Parmar, Bhupender Yadav, Natuji Halaji Thakor, Dilipbhai Pandya, Bhushanlal Jangde, Prabhakar Kore, Tarun Vijay, Faggan Singh Kulaste, Rangasayee Ramakrishna, Nand Kumar Sai, Maya Singh, Mansukh L Mandaviya and Shankarbhai N. Vegad.

For the same reason Mr. Chowdhury and Mr. Ramesh were named in the Bulletin for August 6.