The Rajya Sabha was adjourned on Monday without any proceedings as Congress and Telugu Desam Party members protested against various issues, PTI reported. Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu first adjourned the House shortly after the sitting began at 11 am, and his deputy Harivansh Rai adjourned it for the day soon after reconvening at 2 pm.
Earlier, several legislators of the two Opposition parties had trooped into the Well of the House and protested.
Opposition members from the Trinamool Congress and the Congress protested as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj introduced the The Registration of Marriage of Non-Resident Indian Bill, 2019. Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram introduced The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Third Amendment) Bill, 2019.
As soon as the listed papers were laid on the table of the House earlier, Telugu Desam Party members entered the Well and raised their demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh. Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu is on a day-long hunger strike at the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in Delhi. Several Congress MPs also trooped into the Well.
Legislators from the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, which have forged an alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, raised protests against the deaths caused by the consumption of illicit liquor. Officials have reported 108 deaths from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand so far.
Naidu appealed to protesting members to return to their seats and not display posters. After the MPs continued to protest, Naidu adjourned the House till 2 pm.
In the Lok Sabha
Congress members in the Lower House raised the issue of an alleged attempt made by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Karnataka unit to poach MLAs, The Hindu reported. The House was adjourned till noon after Samajwadi Party members continued to protest over the roster system for faculty reservation in universities.
After the House reconvened, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan allowed Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge to speak. As Kharge read out the transcript of the tapped conversation that was released by Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Friday, BJP members protested.
Congress members also walked out in protest after the House took up the interim budget for discussion. All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Thambidurai said that the government should not have announced populist schemes in an interim budget. “They had four years to announce them, but they have not,” he said. “It is good that the GDP [Gross Domestic Product] has improved, but unemployment is huge and the highest in the last 45 years.”
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