The Hindu : LS adjourned over Fernandes issue

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Friday, Aug 02, 2002

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LS adjourned over Fernandes issue

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 1. The ongoing boycott of the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, took an ugly turn in the Lok Sabha today and led to three adjournments within an hour when Samata Party members countered the Opposition strategy by casting aspersions on the Leader of the Opposition, Sonia Gandhi. The issue was resolved only after the charges were withdrawn.

Trouble began towards the end of the question hour when the Opposition sought to drown with loud protests Mr. Fernandes' reply to a question. Though the Speaker, Manohar Joshi, succeeded in calming the members for a while on the plea that the Lok Sabha ought to try and end the stalemate as was being attempted in the Rajya Sabha, all hell broke loose when the Samata Party's Prabhunath Singh made certain allegations against Ms. Gandhi. Within seconds, Congress members were in the well of the House protesting the remarks. Lending them lung power were members of the CPI(M) and the RJD with Raghuvansh Prasad Singh rushing to the well even as some NDA MPs surrounded the Speaker's chair. As cries of `kafan chor' (coffin thief) and `moorti chor' (statue thief) rent the air, Mr. Joshi adjourned the House for 15 minutes.

Since neither side yielded when the House met again, it was adjourned for the second time even as party leaders were meeting in the Speaker's chambers. Though Mr. Singh withdrew his allegations as was decided at the meeting when the House met again, the Congress members insisted on an ``unconditional withdrawal and unqualified apology''.

With Mr. Singh refusing to give in — insisting on bringing up these charges against Ms. Gandhi tomorrow with proof — Mr. Joshi pacified the Congress benches by stating that he would allow the Samata leader's notice only if convinced that it should be raised in the House.

Even as the House settled down to business with this assurance, members from the NDA benches insisted on reacting to the Opposition boycott of Mr. Fernandes. Lal Muni Choubey of the BJP kicked up a row when, in an apparent reference to Ms. Gandhi, he said that people of foreign origin should not be allowed to occupy high office. This forced the Speaker to adjourn the House again.

While the post-lunch session saw the House proceed without any major disruption after the Speaker announced that Mr. Singh had ``unconditionally withdrawn'' all objectionable statements against Ms. Gandhi, the entire Opposition walked out when Mr. Fernandes rose to move a Bill to amend the Coast Guard Act, 1978.

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