The stand-off between the ruling party and the Opposition members on Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification and the Adani issue touched a new low in the Lok Sabha on Monday with the Congress members trooping into the Well of the house wearing black clothes with two of its MPs throwing papers towards the Chair, leading to adjournment of proceedings in less than a minute till 4 pm.
Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day by the BJP MP Rama Devi who was in the chair after the house resumed its proceedings and passed the finance bill amid the repeat bedlam.
The trouble started right from the word go in the lower house as Congress members wearing black scarves trooped into the Well shouting slogans.
Two Congress members, T N Pratapan and Hibi Eden, who were in the Well holding placards, hurled order papers towards the Chair along with their scarves.
“Dear ED daro mat, Adani per raid karo (ED don’t be scared, raid Adani),” read one of the placards.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi was seen wearing a black scarf while other members of her party wore black shirts. National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah was wearing a black kurta.
Amid the ruckus by Opposition members, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla adjourned proceedings of the House in less than a minute after it assembled for the Question Hour.
“I want to run the House with dignity,” Speaker Birla said, adding that “proceedings are adjourned till 4 pm.”
Lok Sabha has been derailed since the second leg of the Budget Session commenced on March 13 with Opposition members demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the alleged Adani share manipulation issue.
The Lok Sabha could hardly conduct any business in the second part of the budget session with a number of bills waiting to be passed.
However, Parliament on Monday approved the Union Budget for 2023-24 with the Lok Sabha clearing the Finance Bill as amended by the Rajya Sabha, amid continuous uproar by the Opposition over the Adani issue. The amendment to the Finance Bill 2023, which sought to correct an error with regard to the tax rate on Securities Transaction Tax , was moved by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The passage of the Finance Bill completes the budgetary exercise for 2023-24.