Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 6

The Rajya Sabha today witnessed unruly scenes all through the day as it could not transact any substantial business and was adjourned for the day amid repeated disruptions by opposition members, who demanded revocation of the suspension of 12 members of the House.

As soon as the House reassembled at 4 pm following four adjournments of varying durations, Deputy Chairman Harivansh called Home Minister Amit Shah to give a statement on the Nagaland firing incident in which 14 civilians were killed.

As soon as Shah finished his statement, the Deputy Chairman adjourned the House for the day as opposition members refused to relent and continued their uproar.

Earlier, Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 4 pm as the House was unable to function amid protests by opposition MPs, who had trooped inside the well over the issue. This was the fourth adjournment of the day.

When the House assembled following the third adjournment at 3 pm, Sushmit Patra, who was in the Chair, called for a short-term discussion on the situation in the country due to inflation, including rise in the prices of petroleum products.

Patra called Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge to speak on the matter. The leader, however, asked the Chair to first revoke the suspension of the 12 MPs and allow them to participate in the discussion.

Kharge said, “In a democracy, it is a crime to run the House and start a discussion after suspending 12 members.” Patra said the proposal for the short-term discussion was brought by them only and now they didn’t want to discuss it.

Tharoor not to host Sansad TV show

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday said he was withdrawing himself from hosting a talk show on Sansad TV in solidarity with the 12 Rajya Sabha members suspended from the House and would not resume anchoring until their suspension was revoked and a “semblance of bipartisanship restored to the conduct of Parliament”. PTI