Parliament Budget session: Both Houses adjourned amid Opposition protests; no debate on no-confidence motion

The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned on Monday as Opposition protests rocked both Houses of Parliament. This is the final week of the Budget session, which is slated to conclude on 6 April. The Lower House was adjourned within minutes after proceedings began on Monday amid protests from AIADMK MPs demanding the formation of a Cauvery Water Management Board. Seconds after the House reconvened at 12 pm and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan took her seat, Opposition MPs stormed the Well of the House holding placards and shouting slogans saying “We want justice” in a repeat of what had transpired last week. The Lok Sabha adjourned until Tuesday, soon afterward, without a discussion on the no-confidence motion against the government amid noisy protests by the Opposition over various issues. In a bid to convey to the Speaker that 80 members were in support of the no-confidence motion, members of Congress, Left, TDP and some other parties stood up holding blue placards. “Most MPs are already seated. If everyone stops shouting and goes back to their seat, I can see how many support the no-confidence motion. The House must be in order,” Mahajan said in an appeal to MPs as she struggled to consider the no-confidence motion, before finally adjourning the Lok Sabha. The House also witnessed Bharatiya Janata Party blaming Congress for stalling the proceedings of the Lok Sabha. Similarly, Opposition protests forced adjournment of proceedings in the Rajya Sabha within six minutes after the House was convened. The Upper House was adjourned till Tuesday without transaction of any business as members trooped into the Well and shouted slogans, drowning every other voice. MPs belonging to Congress, All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), BSP, TDP and those of Tamil Nadu parties DMK and AIADMK, were in the Well even before Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu could settle down in his chair. [caption id=“attachment_4338867” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of M Venkaiah Naidu. PTI[/caption] Unlike past days when listed papers were allowed to be laid on the table peacefully, Naidu had to go through the exercise on Monday amid chaos as members persisted with sloganeering. Congress and BSP led the charge against the government, accusing it of being “anti-Dalit”, an apparent reference to the Supreme Court ruling on the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The main Opposition party also raised the issue of India’s biggest bank fraud alongside TMC. Tamil Nadu parties, however, were demanding immediate constitution of the Cauvery Water Management Board for the division of river water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Whereas, members of TDP and KVP Ramachandra Rao of the Congress held placards demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh. Amid the din, Naidu called the ministers to lay the listed papers on the table of the House. But, some of them had to be prodded by their colleagues as they apparently couldn’t hear Naidu calling their name to lay the papers. The Chairman asked the members to at least allow papers to be laid. “Entire country is watching,” he said, adding, “You are not going to achieve anything. You are making a mockery of the parliamentary system.” He said the Chair is ready to allow discussion on all the issues being raised by Opposition parties. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel said important bills are listed for discussion in the last week of the current Budget Session of the Parliament. The government, he said, is ready for a discussion on all issues. “I don’t understand why for small issues concerning them, they are not allowing the House to function,” he said. Naidu said the government is ready, the chair is ready and the Opposition, too, is ready for discussion. But, as the ruckus continued, he adjourned the proceedings for the day barely six minutes after the House met. With inputs from PTI