Home India Rajya Sabha adjourned despite no member in Well

Rajya Sabha adjourned despite no member in Well

It is unusual for the House to be disrupted when farewell speeches are to happen, as a mark of courtesy to fellow MPs. The tenures of 58 Rajya Sabha MPs are set to end.

The Rajya Sabha witnessed unprecedented scenes on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi sat through a 15-minute adjournment, talking to colleagues from his own party and others, protesting MPs did not let their retiring colleagues speak, the House was adjourned without any member in the Well and MPs from Congress and other opposition parties chose to sit on in the House even after it was adjourned for the day, as a form of protest against the adjournment.

It is unusual for the House to be disrupted when farewell speeches are to happen, as a mark of courtesy to fellow MPs. The tenures of 58 Rajya Sabha MPs are set to end.

When the House assembled, MPs of AIADMK, TDP and Congress member K V P Ramachandra Rao with his placard entered the Well. While AIADMK was protesting on the Cauvery issue, TDP, which recently walked out of NDA, continued demanding special status for the state. Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the House for 15 minutes and asked all floor leaders to meet him in his chamber. Even before that time was up, the MPs returned and it seemed a settlement had been reached.

When proceedings resumed, there was order except some AIADMK MPs who were on their feet at their seats. After Naidu’s appeal, most sat down, except V Maitreyan and Vijila Satyanath. Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said that his party wanted the House to run and everyone else joined in and urged Naidu to ignore the two members and proceed. However, Naidu did not feel it right to do so.

He said, “…I can go ahead like this and complete the Business. The same thing would happen tomorrow on some other issue. Then there would be problems and questions would be raised as to how the Chair is conducting this. If everybody agrees with this situation, that is a different matter…”

Everybody did seem to agree. But Naidu remained adamant that the House could not run if two members were standing, even if they stood at their seats.

Despite snide remarks from other MPs, neither Maitreyan nor Satyanath sat. Naidu adjourned the House for the day even as a loud cry of “No” went up from the opposition benches.

As MPs started getting up to leave, Azad and Congress leader Anand Sharma told MPs to keep sitting if they wanted the House to run. Congress MPs remained, some opposition MPs did too. Modi got up and left with slow steps, greeting BJP MPs on the way. Most BJP MPs followed him, but some like Bhupendra Yadav and ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Nirmala Sitharaman sat. After some minutes, they too left. Congress MPs and some from DMK, NCP and Left parties remained sitting in the House till Azad called off the “protest” at noon.

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