The Congress forced an adjournment in the Rajya Sabha on Monday as it pressed for taking up of a private member’s Bill for grant of special status to Andhra Pradesh and a special package for the State.
The Bill could not be discussed last week following protests in the House by BJP and Akali Dal members over AAP MP Bhagwant Mann’s alleged breach of security of Parliament after he posted a video on Facebook.
Congress members threatened to not allow government business till their demand was met and said they would not cooperate with the government on any legislative business. The House could not function after lunch as Congress members created an uproar and trooped into the well of the House.
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The Bill was to be moved by Congress member K.V.P. Ramchandra Rao last Friday. Deputy Leader of the Congress, Anand Sharma, led his party’s charge saying “grave injustice” was done when the ruling party and its Ministers disrupted the House on Friday as a result of which the private member’s Bill could not be taken up.
He made it clear that his party did not want anything else discussed until the Andhra Bill was taken up. Slamming the government for its silence over the demand, he said: “That day [Friday] they were shouting vociferously. Today they have lost their voice. We cannot allow government business to be taken up [unless the private member’s Bill is taken up].”
Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien said the Bill would be taken up only on August 5 as, according to practice, private bills and resolutions are taken up on alternate Fridays.
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“It is my ruling that the Bill will not be taken up today [Monday] for discussion,” Mr. Kurien said.
Congress members repeatedly trooped into the well of the House shouting “Andhra wants justice,” forcing Mr. Kurien to adjourn the House twice briefly before finally adjourning the House for the day after 3 p.m.
CPI(M), SP back Cong. The Congress was supported by the CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury and the Samajwadi Party’s Naresh Aggarwal, who wanted the Andhra Bill to be taken up for discussion.
Mr. Kurien wanted the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2016, to be taken up as was decided on Thursday but because of the uproar, it could not be done.
Bhupender Yadav of the BJP accused the Congress of being anti-Adivasis saying it was stalling an important Bill which would help tribal people of the country.
Outside the House, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told the media that all parties, including the Telugu Desam Party (an NDA ally), were in favour of the Bill. When the government realised that it will lose out on the voting it created a ruckus so that the Bill could not be taken up for consideration.
“The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act was never implemented properly in the past two years. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced that special status would be given to Andhra, we moved a private member’s Bill on the issue, but when the time for voting came, they [BJP] created a ruckus,” he said.
Notice for privilege motion against Jairam
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday gave notice for a privilege motion in the Rajya Sabha against Congress MPs Jairam Ramesh and Renuka Chowdhury for allegedly misbehaving with Union Minister Harsimrat Badal.
SAD MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa alleged that the Congress MPs misbehaved with Ms. Badal last Friday when she was trying to raise the issue of security after AAP MP Bhagwant Mann uploaded a video of the Parliament premises on the Internet.
Refuting the allegation, Mr. Ramesh, said he only had an argument with the Minister and no one had misbehaved with her.
“Only three things were said… Minister is expected to behave, action is for the Speaker to take and that this is a deliberate attempt to scuttle the bill on A.P.,” said Mr. Ramesh.
Ms. Chowdhury said her name was being unnecessarily dragged into the issue.