Venkaiah Naidu sees red over placards in Rajya Sabha, says this is not bazaar

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad outside Parliament on Tuesday. (Express photo by Praveen Jain)

Upset about posters carried to the Well of the House by members of different political parties, Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday called leaders of all parties to his chamber soon after the first adjournment of the day and is learnt to have told them that he will not be able to run the House if some members keep holding placards.

Sources present in the meeting said that an irate Naidu told leaders of all political parties in Upper House that display of cards and banners is done in a bazaar.

“There is a huge difference between bazaar and Parliament, and I cannot preside over the House if basic decorum is not observed,” an MP, who was in the meeting, quoted Naidu as saying. “Almost all parties have been in power either in the states or at the Centre. They should take seriously the concern of the people about functioning of legislatures.”
People, Naidu is learnt to have said, are increasingly getting disturbed by the “bazaar-like situation inside legislatures. This needs to be stopped.”

On Tuesday, besides Opposition MPs showing placards and crowding the Well, as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel tried to speak in the din, the person standing in front of him with a placard was TDP MP C M Ramesh. The TDP is part of the ruling NDA. A little distance away, V Maitreyan of AIADMK stood with his back to the Chair, showing his placard to the minister.

As soon as the listed papers were laid on the table during the Zero Hour, TMC members, legislators from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh rushed into the Well and began shouting slogans.

Amid sloganeering during the Zero Hour, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the House until 11.30 am. When MPs reassembled after the adjournment, members from TDP, AIADMK and TMC again trooped in the Well, some of them carrying placards.

The House was adjourned till 2 pm within minutes of re-assembling at 11.30 am.

As Parliament proceedings were washed out for the second consecutive day, Opposition parties maintained that the government had not, beyond making noises on the floor of the House about allowing discussion, reached out to them.

“The responsibility to run Parliament is the government’s. There have been no back-channels so far; there have been no talks. If they want to talk, we will, because we want a discussion on this bank scam,” TMC Parliamentary party leader Derek O’Brien said.

Lok Sabha functions for 15 minutes

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday functioned for a total of about 15 minutes. It was adjourned within minutes amid protests by members of Congress, DMK and YSR Congress, among others from the Opposition, and Shiv Sena and TDP from the NDA in the morning.

After it assembled again at noon, the protesting members stormed into the Well, raising a cacophony of demands and slogans.

While the Congress asked “Bada Modi” where “Chhota Modi” was, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nirav Modi, respectively, DMK members wanted a Cauvery Management Board to be set up. YSR Congress MPs demanded special status for Andhra Pradesh. BJP’s ally TDP sought a Railway zone.

Amid the din, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar made a counter-attack, asking protesting MPs to sit, so that issues can be taken up peacefully and stating that he was “surprised” that the Congress was “agitated” on systemic irregularities in the banking sector. Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the Congress too is ready for a discussion.

But the House was adjourned soon after as protesting members refused to relent.

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