Chaos continued to reign over both Houses of Parliament on Friday, the seventh day of the ongoing Winter Session. While the Rajya Sabha saw stormy sessions, the Lower House witnessed pandemonium situation after a man tried to jump off.

Apart from demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presence in Rajya Sabha to debate the Centre’s demonestisation move, the Opposition also asked him to apologise for his remarks on black money. “The PM made serious allegations against the Opposition when he said that they are favouring black money. He must apologise,” Sharad Yadav said in the Upper House. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati made similar demands and added that the “PM must also clarify who has the black money”. The House was adjourned till 2.30 pm as Opposition parties stormed to the Well and continued their sloganeering.

Advertisement

On Thursday, Manmohan Singh, in a rare address in Rajya Sabha, had said the discontinuation of high-value currency notes was a form of “organised loot” and that it would reduce the country’s gross domestic product by 2% or more. Singh, who clarified that he did not disagree with the government’s objectives, said ordinary people were suffering because of the imposition of the move overnight. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present during Singh’s speech, but did not comment.

Separately, the Lok Sabha had its share of drama when a man tried to jump off the visitors’ gallery into the Lok Sabha chamber over the demonetisation issue. He told the police that he had come on the reference of Bulandshahr MP Bhola Singh, reported ANI.

Meanwhile, the Opposition leaders continued to raise slogans with the same vigour in the Lower House too. The Lok Sabha was adjourned till noon minutes after the opening session. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan refused the Opposition’s demand that the prime minister must come up with a reply to the allegations over demonetisation.