Disruptions and pandemonium marked the first day of the winter session of Parliament on Tuesday, as members raised issues such as inflation, better minimum support price for cotton, and reiterated the demand for a separate Telangana State. Very little official business could be transacted, and the Lok Sabha witnessed the Bharatiya Janata Party protesting against Home Minister P. Chidambaram over his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation controversy.
In the Lok Sabha, members were on their feet waving placards and raising slogans as soon as Speaker Meira Kumar finished with the obituary references and Kuldeep Bishnoi took oath as a new entrant.
Varied issues
While Congress members from the Telangana region brandished placards demanding a separate State, Shiv Sena members walked into the well demanding a hike in the minimum support price for cotton in Maharashtra, and Bahujan Samaj Party members demanded 10 per cent reservation for Muslims. Members from the Left parties also tried to raise the issue of price rise.
When the Speaker called question hour and Mr. Chidambaram stood up to reply, BJP members rose and protested noisily against him.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has been demanding Mr. Chidambaram's resignation alleging that he had been involved in the 2G spectrum scam when he was Finance Minister, and has decided to boycott him in Parliament.
As pandemonium prevailed, the Speaker adjourned the House till noon. When the House re-assembled, it was adjourned for the day after the Finance Minister tabled a suo motu statement on inflation and some other papers.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day as a mark of respect for the two sitting members Silvius Condpan and Ram Dayal Munda.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh defended Mr Chidambaram saying that there was no justification for NDA's call to boycott the Home Minister in Parliament.
“As far as the boycott is concerned, I sincerely hope that the political parties will desist from any such temptation. There is virtually no case for a boycott of the type that has been talked about in the newspapers,” Dr. Singh told reporters outside Parliament.
