Rajya Sabha adjourns without transacting any business

Team Udayavani, Mar 21, 2018, 12:01 PM IST

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha was today adjourned for the day without transacting any business after opposition Congress and parties from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh disrupted proceedings over various issues.

Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the House barely four minutes after the start of proceedings, as members of opposition parties staged protests in the Well.

No sooner were the listed papers laid on the table, members of Andhra parties including TDP and KVP Ramachandra Rao of the Congress trooped in the Well shouting slogans for special status for the state.

Members of Tamil Nadu parties – DMK and AIADMK – too were in the Well demanding immediate constitution of the Cauvery Water Management Board for division of river water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Congress members too joined them in the Well, shouting slogans against the government.

Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad demanded a discussion on atrocities on SC/ST as well as on the statement of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on the killing of 39 abducted Indians in Iraq.

He said the House should debate the statement she made last year and what she stated yesterday.

Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu repeatedly asked him to give proper notice for the same and asked the members to allow the House to function.

“What is happening. Are we so helpless,” he said. “Go back to your respective seats and raise issues.” 

Naidu said he was willing to allow members to raise issues from their seat and asked them not to shout slogans.

Asking if the MPs wanted images of disruption to be seen by the nation, he said, “Is this Parliament or something else?” 

“I am sorry this is not the way,” he said before adjourning the proceedings for the day.

This is the third day that Naidu adjourned the proceedings for the day right at the onset of first protests by opposition parties. Yesterday, Swaraj had made a statement on the issue of abducted Indians in Iraq before the House was adjourned for the day.

Rajya Sabha hasn’t transacted any substantial business since the Budget session of Parliament resumed on March 5.