The Rajya Sabha proceedings on Friday were marred by vociferous protest by Congress alleging abduction of their MlA by the Gujarat police and the BJP charging them for defaming the State. Members of the main Opposition members trooped into well of the House shouting slogans forcing repeated adjournments throughout the day.
Even as Deputy Chairman P J Kurien time and again asked the agitating members to take up the issue with the Election Commission and ruled he cannot direct it to ensure free and fair polls in the State for Rajya Sabha seats as demanded by Congress, its members did not relent. They charged the ruling combine for “stealing” Congress MlAs to win the polls adding similar practice was adopted to form Governments in Goa and Manipur in the recent past.
When the House met at 2.30 pm after four adjournments in the pre-lunch session, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi demanded that the Opposition should tender an apology to Gujarat for tarnishing its image. Earlier, his party colleague and Minister of State for Agriculture Purshottam Rupala said the leader of Opposition in Gujarat assembly had quit the Congress and some others followed. Claiming that such phenomenon was an internal matter of Congress, he also claimed that some Congress MlAs in Gujarat did not even vote for the party’s Presidential candidate.
Congress made its intentions clear to disrupt the proceedings as soon as the House met for the day with Anand Sharma raising the issue.