Protests in Rajya Sabha took an ugly turn on Monday with some members tearing official papers and throwing them towards the Chair besides trying to reach to the microphones on the podium.
Tempers ran high in the House as couple of members objected to the naming of 10 MPs for disrupting the House last week over various issues, including Telangana, arrest of Tamil fishermen and VVIP chopper scam. The protests led to a washout of the proceedings of the Upper House for the fourth straight working day on Monday. The talk of introducing of Telangana Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday may again trigger protests on Tuesday when the House resumes.
V Maitreyan of AIADMK and TM Selvaganapathi from DMK tore off the House bulletin. Some other members marched to the Well of the House and tore off official papers and tossed their pieces towards the Chair. Maitreyan even tried to reach to the microphones on the table of the Chairman, but was stopped by the watch and ward staff. Ten members — YS Chowdary and CM Ramesh (TDP), N Balaganga, AW Rabi Bernard, KR Arjunan, T Rathinavel, R lakshmanan (AIADMK) and Vasanthi Stanley, AA Jinnah and TM Selvaganapathi (DMK) — were named in Rajya Sabha Bulletin of February 7 for disrupting the proceedings.
The bulletin stated: “Due to gross disorderly conduct in violation of rules and etiquette of Rajya Sabha by the following members who, from time to time, entered the Well of the House and persistently and wilfully obstructed the proceedings of the House, the Chair repeatedly a djourned the House during the course of the day.”
An angry Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien said, “I know what you want. You want censoring of the proceedings of the House. It is illegal, against rules. It is unbecoming of you. What you are doing is wrong...Unruly. I am sorry.” Ministers Jairam Ramesh and Rajiv Shukla were seen trying to restrain Maitreyan. The chaos returned when the House met at 2 pm, and Kurien adjourned the House for the day. The House earlier saw four adjournments. lok Sabha too could not transact any business because of pandemonium over Telangana and other issues like Communal Violence Bill and problems faced by Tamil fishermen.