The Rajya Sabha proceedings on Thursday were marred by protests by the Opposition and repeated adjournments over the Pegasus controversy and other issues. The Opposition also raised a din over the alleged scuffle between the Rajya Sabha security staff and some MPs on Wednesday. A woman security officer was injured.
The pre and post lunch sessions witnessed the Opposition members rushing into the well of the house raising slogans and shouting slogans.
The proceedings in the morning were adjourned thrice.
The House was first adjourned for 15 minutes during the Zero hour and then again soon after it met at 11.30 AM. The House which met again at 12 noon was adjourned after opposition members continued to raise slogans in the well and disrupted the proceedings.
Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (TMC)first raised the issue of one of his party members not allowed to enter the house on Wednesday after it was adjourned for the day.
Harivansh earlier said when the member, who was asked to withdraw from the house by Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, tried to enter the house an argument ensued. A glass pane was broken and a woman security officer sustained injuries. Naidu was looking into the issue.
The chair termed the incident as "highly deplorable and condemnable".
While Harivansh said the unnamed TMC MP broke the glass after she was stopped from entering the House after it was adjourned for the day on Wednesday, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said the MP concerned was suspended for the remainder of the sitting of the House and she had gone to fetch her bag after the proceedings were adjourned for the day.
As the TMC and other opposition MPs opposed the remarks and Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge cited former finance minister Arun Jaitley's statement of disruption in Parliament being part of democracy.
The Opposition was in no mood to adhere to the chair’s plea to allow the Question House and created a ruckus. The deputy chairman continued with the Question Hour for a few minutes and then adjourned the house till after two pm. Earlier, senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram raised the issue of ministers not being present in Rajya Sabha for the laying of official listed papers.
Chidambaram raised the issue when Parliamentary Affairs Minister V Muraleedharan was called to lay official papers on behalf of six of his ministerial colleagues.
Harivansh said the matter was raised even on Wednesday and Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu had stated that the parliamentary affairs minister has been allowed to lay papers mentioned against the names of other ministers because of the Covid situation.