(IANS, PTI)
NEW DELHI — Both houses of parliament were adjourned several times yesterday as Samajwadi Party members repeatedly stalled the proceedings protesting a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe ordered against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The Lok Sabha was finally adjourned for the day after it was disrupted thrice over. When the house met, Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav sought to suspend the question hour and discuss the ‘political conspiracy’ against Mulayam Singh.
“There has been a political conspiracy to falsely implicate Mulayam Singh Yadav,” he said.
SP members stormed the well of the House, shouted anti-government slogans and termed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as ‘Congress Bureau of Investigation’.
The Supreme Court had on Thursday directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary enquiry into charges that the chief minister had amassed fortune through corrupt means.
Although Speaker Somnath Chatterjee asked Ramgopal Yadav to raise the matter at 12 noon, his party colleagues gathered near the speaker’s podium raising slogans like “Congress ki jhooti saazish nahi chalegi (The conspiracy by the Congress will not work)”.
As Samajwadi Party members paid no heed to the speaker’s request, Chatterjee adjourned the house for half an hour at 11.05am. It was adjourned for a second time as soon as the house met with the party leaders continuing to create a pandemonium.
When the parliamentarians assembled for the third time, members of the Congress and Samajwadi Party raised slogans against each other, forcing the adjournment of the house for the day. The speaker, however, managed to allow the ministers to table the papers listed in the business.
The Lok Sabha will now meet Tuesday as parliament will observe a holiday on Monday on account of Holi.
The Rajya Sabha too witnessed utter chaos as Samajwadi Party members termed the move against Mulayam Singh the "misuse" of the CBI to settle political scores.
Party leaders were on their feet, shouting slogans, as soon as the house assembled. Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat adjourned the house till 12 noon after his pleas to restore order fell on deaf ears.
The pandemonium continued when the house reassembled with Samajwadi leaders led by Amar Singh advancing to the speaker’s podium, while continuing their sloganeering.
SP leader Amar Singh was seen displaying a CD of an alleged conversation between a TV reporter and the person who filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against Yadav, charging him with having disproportionate assets.
Amid the uproar, the House was adjourned within five minutes till noon. AIADMK and TDP members also went into the well.
All the while Congress MPs kept countering SP members demanding that the chief minister should resign in view of the apex court’s order. The presence of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi in the Lower House encouraged party MPs, especially those from UP, to launch a counter-attack.
‘Remove Mulayam, save Uttar Pradesh,’ the MPs, including Rajesh Mishra and Jitin Prasad, shouted.In the midst of din, Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan called in the government to lay the papers on the table of the house. He then adjourned the Rajya Sabha till 2.30pm.
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