The ruling benches in the Lok Sabha forced two quick adjournments of proceedings on Wednesday; first with Union Minister for Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal refusing to abide by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's directive against making a fresh statement on the closure of a food park in Amethi and then BJP members keeping the tempo high on the issue with slogan-shouting.
The food park issue was brought up by Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge while referring to closure of several projects, including medical institutions by the Modi government in what he alleged was “vengeance politics”. His reference to the food park charged up Ms. Badal, who began making a statement similar to the one she had made on Tuesday and last Friday.
The Speaker, who had come under attack from the Congress on Tuesday for allowing Ms. Badal to repeat her statement on the same issue for the second time in three working days – ruled that the Minister cannot make the statement but Ms. Badal continued to do so amid protests from the Opposition; resulting in the first adjournment.
When the House met again, the Speaker allowed Ms. Badal to table her statement since Mr. Kharge had referred to the Minister by name. But protests by the BJP had the Speaker adjourn proceedings for the second time in less than an hour.
