ADVERTISEMENT

Lok Sabha adjourned for the day

Rafale and Cauvery water echo in both Houses

Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad speaks in the Rajya Sabha on December 18. PTI

PTI
New Delhi | Published 18.12.18, 08:03 AM

The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day amid protests by parties on various issues, among these the Rafale deal and Cauvery water.

When the House met at noon, slogan shouting continued from both the Opposition and treasury benches. The Congress raised the Rafale deal and some party members displayed placards demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the matter. But several BJP members shouted slogans against the Congress and demanded an apology from Congress president Rahul Gandhi on the Rafale issue.

ADVERTISEMENT

AIADMK members were protesting against construction of a dam across the Cauvery while those from the TDP were demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh.

In the morning, the Speaker had adjourned the House till noon due to protests by several parties.

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 2 pm on Tuesday as the AIADMK and DMK protested over the Cauvery issue, while the Congress demanded that a privilege notice against the government be taken up for allegedly misleading Parliament and the Supreme Court on Rafale jet deal.

Rajya Sabha proceedings have been disrupted for the last five days on issues such as the Rafale deal, the dam on the Cauvery and demand of special status to Andhra Pradesh.

As the House assembled for the sixth day of the winter session, chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu informed the members that various notices on urgent matters, ranging from cyclones in some states to price rise to agriculture crisis, have been admitted for discussion.

Naidu, who had adjourned the proceedings all of Monday amid uproar over the Rafale deal, Cauvery and other issues, appealed to the members to let the House run.

The chairman said he was going through a privilege notice given by the Opposition.

However, soon after the papers were laid by the ministers, members from the two major political parties of Tamil Nadu - the AIADMK and the DMK - trooped into the Well, carrying placards and shouting slogans against construction of a dam on the Cauvery.

Amid sloganeering, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the privilege motion against the government on the Rafale jet deal should be accepted as the matter is agitating the minds of the people.

Azad alleged the government had misled Parliament and the Supreme Court on the issue, triggering vociferous protests from the treasury benches.

The senior Congress leader said the government had no right to continue in office and 'should go'.

Naidu, however, said that the Chair should be allowed to take a view on the privilege notice.

The Congress had given the notice demanding an explanation from the government on why it provided the Supreme Court 'wrong' information on the purchase of Rafale fighter jet from a French company.

Countering Azad, minister of state for parliamentary affairs Vijay Goel said the government was ready to discuss all issues, including the Rafale deal.

He demanded that the Congress apologise in the wake of the apex court's refusal to order an SIT probe in Rafale deal and Sajjan Kumar's conviction by the Delhi High Court in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

As slogan shouting by the AIADMK and DMK members continued in the Well of the House, Naidu adjourned the House till 2 PM.

According to the listed business, the House is scheduled to take up in the afternoon a discussion on devastation caused by cyclones Gaja, and Titli and the action taken by the government in this regard.

Rajya Sabha Lok Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad Parliament M Venkaiah Naidu Rafale Deal
Follow us on:
ADVERTISEMENT