RS Opp walks out; Somnath talks tough

Rajya SabhaThe ‘‘tainted’’ ministers issue resurfaced when both Houses met after a three-week recess. Agitated Oppositio...

Rajya Sabha
The ‘‘tainted’’ ministers issue resurfaced when both Houses met after a three-week recess. Agitated Opposition members stalled the Rajya Sabha for nearly half-an-hour and walked out when refused permission by the Chair to discuss the matter.

Soon after Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, BJP member Ravi Shankar Prasad asked if he could raise the issue of withdrawal of a criminal case against Minister Taslimuddin.

His request was turned down by RS Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who said he needed time to examine the written request and as it was not in the listed business of the House. BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said since this is an issue requiring immediate attention, permission should be given. As Shekhawat stuck to his stand, the Opposition disrupted proceedings and walked out.

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Raising the issue during Zero Hour in Lok Sabha, BJP’s Sushil Modi demanded Taslimuddin’s dismissal and wanted the PM to explain the circumstances that forced him to appoint him. Referring to Singh’s I-Day speech, Modi asked if the PM had been aware of the IB report on Taslimuddin before he inducted him. An arrest warrant was pending against Taslimuddin when he was appointed minister, Modi said. The Bihar government’s role, he said, ‘‘is nothing but blatant and naked misuse of state power”.

RJD member Raghunath Jha pointed out that senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi continued as ministers even after they were chargesheeted in the Babri demolition case.

Lok Sabha

Express News Service
New Delhi, August 16

The moisture in the Delhi air seemed to seep into the Lok Sabha precincts this morning with the expected fireworks from the Opposition on the first day of the resumed session turning out to be a damp squib.

With the Opposition failing to raise a shindig over the Taslimuddin issue and the half-empty treasury benches wearing a desultory air, the only person who made his stentorian presence felt today was Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

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In keeping with the ‘‘solution’’ worked out to end the BJP’s boycott of the parliamentary standing committees, the BJP withdrew remarks made by V.K. Malhotra against the Speaker, and in return, Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee withdrew his written statement against the Opposition’s behaviour towards the Chair.

As Sushil Modi raised the Taslimuddin issue, several members from both sides wanted to speak but the Chair intervened. ‘‘Please don’t think you can browbeat me… It is your House, not mine. It is the House of the people of India .. sit down … I will not allow anyone to behave like a super Speaker,’’ Chatterjee said.

And when an Akali MP wanted to associate himself with a statement made by BJP MP Suresh Chandel on the hostage crisis, Chatterjee said: ‘‘You can associate yourself without uttering a word.’’

Whether it was the Speaker’s sternness or the absence of V.K. Malhotra (who choreographs the Opposition onslaught), the first day of the second half of the Monsoon Session was unexpectedly devoid of bedlam.