Patna, July 29: JD(U) member Manjit Kumar Singh today linked the midday meal tragedy to Gujarat, saying the killer pesticide might have been made in the western state.

Speaking during the debate on the adjournment motion moved by the RJD, Singh said the deaths were the result of a “well-oiled conspiracy” to which the Opposition was a party.

The charge drew howls of protest from the BJP. “Jo sarkar nikammi hai, woh sarkar badalni hai (The incapacitated government must be changed),” shouted senior BJP member Ashwini Kumar Choubey, as his colleagues menacingly approached the Speaker’s chair.

Defying the repeated requests from the Chair to restore order, leader of Opposition Nand Kishore Yadav said there could be no bigger tragedy than the deaths of innocent children for the House to adjourn its normal business and debate it. Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary adjourned the House till 12noon.

When the House reassembled at noon, the Speaker accepted the RJD’s adjournment notice on the plea that his office had received it first. The BJP’s Vinod Narayan Jha objected, asserting that he had given the notice first. But the Speaker overruled him.

RJD and BJP members joined hands in putting the government on the mat during the two-hour debate. “The chief minister had resigned as the railway minister in the wake of a train accident that had taken place due to the lapse of a lineman. We are shocked to see the same leader avoiding even meeting the family members of the 23 children who died after consuming poisonous food,” Nand Kishore said, initiating the debate.

“Nitish recently accused us of mocking at his broken finger. It is hard to believe that the pain in his finger was enough to prevent him from seeing the children admitted to the Patna Medical College Hospital here,” he added.

Nitish was away in his chamber through the raucous debate. He, however, joined the House a little before education minister P.K. Shahi made his reply.