Thaindian News

New Delhi, March 11 (IANS) Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari Wednesday expressed his anguish at the members behaviour after his repeated pleas to let question hour proceed were not heeded by the opposition, which demanded that the suspension of seven MPs, physically evicted from the house Tuesday during the debate on women’s reservation bill, be revoked.
The house was adjourned twice during question hour.

“I can’t help saying that the rules of etiquette are not observed in this house,” he said, after telling members to resume their seats.

“Please sit down….you can’t interrupt, you can’t do this. Please do not interrupt. I find this conduct reprehensible and disgusting,” the chairman said.

Holding that the members were not sending a correct message to the people by their behavior, Ansari added the government and the opposition should talk on the demand for revoking the suspension of the seven members.

As soon as the Rajya Sabha met for the day, Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley said the house had witnessed some unfortunate scenes and disrespect was also shown to the chair.

He regreted the incident on behalf of opposition.

“Some MPs were abstaining from the proceedings because their colleagues have been suspended. We urge the government to bring a motion to revoke the suspension,” Jaitley said.

However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said the suspended MPs should express their regrets to create a congenial atmosphere in the house.

Congress MP Jayanti Natarajan also said “they (suspended members) should apologise”.

But the opposition did not relent in its demand that the government agree to bring a motion. The chairman adjourned the house for 15 minutes.

When the house re-assembled at 11.30 a.m., the opposition MPs were again on their feet over the issue and Ansari adjourned the house till 12 noon.

On Wednesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left had supported the demand of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) for withdrawing the suspension of the seven members.

The suspended MPs are Kamal Akhtar, Veerpal Singh Yadav, Amir Alam Khan and Nand Kishore Yadav (all SP), Ejaz Ali (Janata Dal-United), Sabir Ali (Lok Janshakti Party) and Subhash Prasad Yadav (RJD).

The MPs had created pandemonium near the chairman’s podium Monday after he instructed Law Minister Veerappa Moily to move the Women’s Reservation Bill for consideration.

They continued their protests Tuesday, following which Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prithivraj Chavan moved a resolution for their suspension that the house adopted.

However, the seven MPs continued to squat near the chairman’s chair in the house for over three hours, following which the marshals physically evicted them.