Rahul displays ‘unreleased’ memoir of Naravane in Parliament premises
New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Wednesday witnessed dramatic scenes as women Opposition MPs charged towards the Prime Minister’s seat holding banners ahead of his scheduled speech, leading to adjournment of proceedings for the day.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not present in the House and BJP member P P Chaudhary was making his remarks on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address when the opposition members trooped into the Well of the House.
Government floor managers had indicated that the Prime Minister would reply to the discussion on the Motion of Thanks at 5:00 pm.
When the House met at 5:00 pm after three adjournments, BJP member Sandhya Rai, who was in the chair, called Chaudhary to make his remarks on the Motion. Soon, the women members of the Opposition trooped into the Well and made their way to the Treasury benches protesting against the trade deal with the US and former Army chief M M Naravane’s ‘unpublished’ book.
As opposition members approached the Prime Minister’s seat, the presiding officer adjourned the proceedings for the day.
The Prime Minister is now expected to speak on Thursday in Rajya Sabha where the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address has taken place without any disruption.
It was not immediately clear when the Prime Minister would speak in Lok Sabha, as opposition protests are expected to continue. A discussion on the Union Budget has been listed in the Lok Sabha agenda for Thursday.
The face-off between the government and the opposition in Lok Sabha had intensified on Tuesday following the suspension of one CPI(M) and seven Congress members for unruly behaviour for the remainder of the Budget session.
Some Dalit members of the ruling alliance also met Speaker Om Birla to complain that they were insulted by the opposition benches while chairing the House proceedings.
Drama ensued outside the House also when Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, while protesting alongside his suspended party colleagues, taunted Union minister and former Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu with a “traitor friend” jibe.
Bittu retorted calling Gandhi ‘desh ka dushman’, while BJP later paraded its Sikh leaders to charge the Congress leader of insulting the community.
The Lok Sabha has witnessed stormy protests by the opposition members since Monday when Rahul Gandhi insisted on referring to the unpublished book of Naravane, a move strongly opposed by senior ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah among others.
