End parliament logjam: Speaker to MPs at car rally

December 5th, 2010 - 8:47 pm ICT by IANS  

Meira Kumar New Delhi, Dec 5 (IANS) Parliament’s young turks - some 40 of them - from across the political divide took to the wheels Sunday for a car rally for safe driving, and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar grabbed the chance to send a message across to the squabbling house - end the logjam over the 2G spectrum allocation.

“The best driver is one who does not cause a jam and neither allows any one else to cause a jam. I think this applies to parliament as well,” Meira Kumar said at the prize distribution ceremony of the rally organised for sending road safety message.

It was the first car rally for MPs and journalists.

A brainchild of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who is the secretary of Constitution Club, the rally was held to send a message across about road safety and the need to obey traffic rules, including speed limit.

It was flagged off by Vice President Hamid Ansari and prizes were given away by Meira Kumar at a function in Taj Palace.

BJP’s Sanjay Jaiswal, 45, a Lok Sabha MP from Bihar, was awarded the trophy for becoming the first to complete the 15 km distance from Constitution Club in Rafi Marg to Taj Palace.

The clues to the route from Constitution Club to Taj Palace were hidden in puzzles, to make the rally more interesting.

When the rally started from Constitution Club, drivers were given a clue which they had to crack to find out what their next destination is. Once they reached there, they got the second clue.

The rally lasted for about two hours. A 10-member jury led by Formula 1 test driver Karun Chandhok subtracted points of those who violated traffic rules by changing lanes and exceeded the speed limit of 35 kmph.

Speed marshals were deployed on the way to check violations.

Among those who participated were Navin Jindal, Agatha Sangma, Kirti Azad. First time MP Mausam Noor participated in the rally along with her husband Mirza Kayesh Begg.

The rally was organised at a time when parliament proceedings have been stalled for over a fortnight due to relentless protests by opposition MPs over corruption scandals.

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