Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday set a “record” of sorts by presiding over the proceedings of the House for the whole day. He conducted the Zero Hour and Question Hour in the pre lunch session and then sat through the entire second half from 2.00 pm till 6.00 pm when the house was adjourned for the day. It was for the first time that the Chairman was present in the House throughout the day, Rajya Sabha Secretariat veterans later said.
Incidentally, the Zero Hour managed to have 25 mentions by members of various parties who raised issues pertaining to public interest and Naidu thanked all the MPs for their co-operation in smooth functioning.
The Question Hour saw an adjournment for about 30 minutes after TMC members rushed into the well when they were not satisfied with Finance Minister Piysuh Goyal’s reply on information on black money from Switzerland.
When the house met again after lunch break at 2.00 pm, Naidu presided over a short duration discussion on demand for special category status for Andhra Pradesh.
In the afternoon Session, he took a very brief break for freshening up.
Incidentally, Naidu last week also created a record of sorts by speaking in ten Indian different languages informing the Elders that the Rajya Sabha Secretariat now had the facility to simultaneously translate all the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of Constitution. He urged the members to speak in their mother tongue to express their views more succinctly.