Parliament adjourned for the day after obituary references

New Delhi: Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned on the first day of the Winter Session Tuesday after paying homage to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and several sitting and former members who passed away recently. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan paid tributes to Vajpayee, Chatterjee, Union Minister Ananth Kumar and three sitting members. Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu remembered the contribution of former prime minister Vajpayee, the former Lok Sabha Speaker and several former members.

While reading out the obituary reference for Vajpayee, who passed away on August 16 after a prolonged illness, Mahajan said he was one of the most outstanding member of Parliament and enjoyed respect across the political spectrum. In the Rajya Sabha, Naidu recalled the contribution made by Vajpayee during his long parliamentary career and as his tenure as prime minister for three times. Both the House also paid rich tributes to former Lok Sabha Speaker Chatterjee and Union Minister Kumar.

The Rajya Sabha Chairman got emotional while reading out the obituary to Kumar. An almost similar scene was witnessed in the lower House where the Speaker paid homage to Vajpayee in a choked voice. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and most of the Union Ministers were present in the Lok Sabha during the obituary references. Before the lower house assembled, the prime minister walked up to the Opposition benches and was seen having a brief interaction with Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, and others. Congress President Rahul Gandhi was also present in the House during obituary references. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP President Amit Shah were present in the Rajya Sabha.

In the Lok Sabha, tributes were also paid to three sitting members Bhola Singh, M I Shanavas and Mohammad Asrarul Haque, who passed away recently. The Upper House also paid obituary to its former members -- R K Dorendra Singh, Karma Todpen, Kuldip Nayyar, Nandamuri Harikrishna, Darshan Singh Yadav, Ratnakar Pandey, Satya Prakash Malaviya, Ram Dev Bhandary, Malti Sharma, N D Tiwari, P K Maheshwari and Baishnab Parida -- who passed away recently. The Rajya Sabha also remembered those who lost their lives in the Cyclone Gaja in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.