Ghulam Nabi Azad (right), the senior Congress leader who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha (Photo: Twitter/ANI)

A united Opposition today alleged that Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu was biased and "muzzling" their voices in the House and decided to boycott the Upper House proceedings for the day.

The Opposition's decision to boycott Rajya Sabha followed allegations of repeated adjournment of the House till 2 pm by Naidu, which has resulted in the Zero Hour being suspended for the second day today.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Congress and other parties had tried to manufacture an issue where none existed, ANI reported.

There is a huge opportunity for discussing all political & economic issues this week in the parliament. Instead rules are being violated, everyday an effort being made to get the House adjourned, it is obvious that they don't want an organised discussion: Arun Jaitley pic.twitter.com/F5xfD1Ts4W ANI (@ANI) February 6, 2018

A Zero Hour is when matters of public importance are raised by Members of Parliament. It starts at around 12 noon during which MPs can, with prior notice to the Speaker, raise issues.

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The Congress Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said the voice of the Opposition is being muzzled. "We will not allow this to happen," he said.

Azad said, "We are seeing continuously that Opposition members are not being allowed to speak. The House is adjourned till 2 pm when it is the time for us to speak."

"During the Zero Hour, we are supposed to raise matters of public importance. At times, it is not possible to give prior notice. Some developments take place late evening and we are not allowed to speak. So we have boycotted the House for today to oppose this bias," Azad said.

Senior Samajwadi Party MP Naresh Agrawal said, "We expect the Chair to be fair to the Opposition members. We are not here only to pass the Bills. We have to raise issues of public importance. We had no other option other than boycotting the Rajya Sabha for today."

Today, the Rajya Sabha was first adjourned till 2 pm, and then extended by another hour, following ruckus by the Opposition parties over the alleged bias.

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 2 pm amid protest by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) members after they were not allowed to discuss the West Bengal Governor's intervention in the West Bengal government.

"Issue is Governor of the State is writing to...", senior TMC leader Derek O'Brien was heard saying. However, Chairman Naidu stopped him, saying the MPs are not supposed to take the name of Governors.

That forced several other Opposition members from the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the TMC, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Left to be on their feet and go into a huddle, with Azad leading the discussion on floor strategy.

There was an animated discussion among Azad, O'Brien, Agarwal, CPI's D Raja, Congress's Jairam Ramesh, and some other opposition members. One of the members was heard saying "boycott the House".

On Monday too, irked over slogan shouting by Opposition MPs from the Well, Naidu had adjourned the proceedings of the morning session in the Rajya Sabha till 2 pm.

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