RS witnesses walkout after Rahul disallowed to speak in Lok Sabha
The treasury and the main Opposition party, Congress, were engaged in sharp exchanges in the Rajya Sabha when Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge claimed Rahul Gandhi was not allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha. The Congress later staged a walkout.
Soon after the House mourned the passing of a former MP and tabling of listed papers during the Zero Hour, Kharge raised the issue of his counterpart in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi, not being allowed to speak.
“He (Gandhi) wanted to speak about the country’s interest,” Kharge said.
Before he could complete, Chairman CP Radhakrishnan gave the floor to the Leader of the House and Union Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda, saying the proceedings of the Lok Sabha cannot be discussed in the Upper House as per the rulings of the Chair.
He said if the Congress party was interested, its leaders should advise their Lok Sabha MPs to join the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address to the joint sitting of Parliament in the Lower House, and proceedings in the Rajya Sabha should be allowed to continue uninterruptedly.
The Chairman thereafter called for the listed Zero Hour mentions to be taken up. At this point, Congress MPs started shouting slogans about democracy being “throttled”.
The Chairman then gave the floor to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who said he was surprised by the issue being raised in the Rajya Sabha after three days of smooth debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President.
“We all are expecting everyone to follow the rules and traditions... All the members (MPs) are waiting to listen to the speech of the Prime Minister today. If the Congress party does not want to listen to the Prime Minister, (it is their) personal choice. We don’t want to impose on them, but other members want to listen to the Prime Minister. How can they stop (that),” he said.
He repeated Nadda’s submission that the proceedings of the Lok Sabha should not be mentioned in the Rajya Sabha, with its own procedure and set of rules for the conduct of business.
