IN HOUSE 

Patna, March 4: The Legislative Council witnessed uproarious scenes today with Opposition members moving an adjournment motion demanding increase of reservation for Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) and Scheduled Castes (SC) in panchayat polls.

Chairman Awadhesh Narain Singh rejected the motion and continued with the proceedings of the House.

The ruckus started right at the beginning of Question Hour when BJP MLC and party chief whip in the Council Rajnish Kumar moved an adjournment motion pointing out that 17 more castes have been included in the EBC list and four have been added in the SC list but the proportionate reservation for them in the panchayat polls has not increased.

As the council chairman shot down the motion and asked the protesting legislators to allow Question Hour to continue, more NDA MLCs stood up to demand an increase in reservation for EBC and SC from the current 20 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively, in the local bodies.

They waved placards bearing the demands and raised slogans.

BJP MLC and state president Mangal Pandey pointed out that EBC and SC were weaker sections of the society and said: "If the state government increased the number of castes in these categories, it should also have increased the percentage of reservation given to them in the panchayati raj institutions."

He added: "We seek 30 per cent reservation for EBC and 19 per cent for SC in the local governance bodies. It will be within the constitutional limits. We are ready to support if the state government moves a bill for this purpose."

The panchayat polls are slated to be held in 10 phases from April 28 to May 30.

As the Opposition raised its pitch, legislators belonging to the ruling Grand Alliance tried to shout them down by dubbing the Opposition demand as "crocodile tears".

If the NDA was really serious on the reservation issue then it should ask RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to withdraw his anti-reservation comments, the ruling MLCs declared.

Awadhesh requested Opposition MLCs to allow the House to function. When his pleas fell on deaf ears, he adjourned the House for 10 minutes and went out.

When the Council resumed, the situation was no better. Angered over this, the chairman said: "The House will function and won't be allowed to be disrupted at any cost."

He asked the ministers present to answer the short notice and starred questions scheduled for Question Hour.