New Delhi, Dec. 19: Women MPs cutting across party lines today got together in the Rajya Sabha to demand the government’s response on the women’s reservation bill. The uproar that followed led to two brief adjournments of the House.

The government maintained a studied silence in the House, but parliamentary affairs minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi told reporters later the Centre would try to table the women’s reservation bill in the budget session after evolving a consensus.

In the Rajya Sabha, things hotted up after question hour was over. Deputy chairman K. Rahman Khan asked the BJP’s Sushma Swaraj to raise the women’s reservation issue as her notice had been accepted by chairman B.S. Shekhawat.

Even before she could speak, women MPs of the Congress began shouting from their seats. Female colleagues from the CPM, ADMK and Telugu Desam soon followed suit.

Then women members from the Congress and BJP rushed to the aisle. CPM member Brinda Karat, ADMK member S.G. Indira and Desam’s N.P. Durga rushed to the well and started arguing with the deputy chairman.

“Ladies should not behave like this,” Khan said. But as they showed no signs of relenting, he adjourned the House for 15 minutes.

When the House reassembled, similar scenes continued. Over the din, Swaraj rued that let alone passing the bill, the government did not even keep its promise of tabling it. Soon, women MPs started shouting slogans. The House was again adjourned for 20 minutes.

In the evening, Das Munshi announced the Centre would table the bill in the budget session.