New Delhi, Jan 7 (IANS) The Lok Sabha was on Monday adjourned till 2 p.m. after witnessing two brief adjournments in the pre-lunch session with the opposition raising various demands including a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale fighter jet deal.
The opposition protest forced Sumitra Mahajan to suspended four more members belonging to the TDP and AIADMK for two consecutive sittings for causing “grave disorder” in the House.
When the House reassembled at noon after its first adjournment, the agitating members again trooped near the Speaker’s podium raising slogans in support of their demands like special status for Andhra Pradesh and against the proposed dam on the Cauvery river in Karnataka.
They have been protesting on these issues ever since the session started.
Mahajan issued a warning and suspended the four members of both the parties including AIADMK’s P. Venugopal, K.N. Ramachandran and K. Gopal and TDP’s N. Shivaprasad for two sittings.
Last week, the Speaker had suspended 45 Lok Sabha members belonging to AIADMK and TDP.
She asked the suspended members to withdraw themselves from the House but they declined to. Later, she adjourned the House till 12.30 p.m.
When the House again reassembled, the Congress members started protesting demanding a JPC probe into the Rafale deal.
Amid the din, some of the members raised their issues under Zero Hour.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge raised the issue related to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s remarks on giving one lakh crore rupees government contracts to PSU HAL while Samajwadi Party’s Dharmendra Yadav attacked the government over a CBI probe against former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in a mining case.
As noisy scenes continued, the Speaker adjourned the House till 2 p.m.
The Lok Sabha was earlier adjourned till noon after witnessing unrelenting protests by the Congress, the TDP and the AIADMK.
Soon after the House assembled for the day, the Congress members trooped near the Speaker’s podium and started sloganeering demanding the probe in the deal for 36 ready-to-fly Rafale jets.
The Speaker tried to conduct the Question Hour but the protests continued, forcing her to adjourn the House till noon.
–IANS
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