This Article is From Aug 07, 2013

In Parliament, politics of disruption

Yashwant Sinha gets angry after being interrupted by Congress MPs in Parliament

New Delhi: Day two of the Monsoon session of Parliament witnessed familiar interruptions and disruptions, but this time with a twist.

Today, the Opposition members complained and the ruling benches witnessed protests. "Is Congress with Pakistan or with us," asked BJP's Yashwant Sinha after losing his cool when he was interrupted by ruling party's MPs.

For the second day today, five Congress members, opposed to the creation of a separate Telangana, disrupted Parliament by sloganeering - that too in the presence of the Congress President.

A couple of hours later, when Rajya Sabha witnessed similar scenes forced by two Telegu Desam MPs, deputy chairman PJ Kurien threatened action.

Mr Kurien, perhaps, wanted to send a strong message to those opposed to Telangana who had been derailing the proceedings. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath cited Rule 255, under which the two members could be asked to leave.

But members from the Opposition strongly protested. V Maitreyan asked how could the Government think of such a move when their own MPs were disrupting Lok Sabha.

Arun Jaitley, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha stepped in. "The Government should first set its house in order... It's a civil war-like situation." He reminded the House that when the NDA government created three states - Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand - there were no such disruptions.

The Government that often blames the Opposition for disruptions, is now silent on any action against their own MPs. "Emotions are still running high. They are being explained and prevailed upon by the leadership," said Kamal Nath.

Clearly that has not had the effect so far and in the process, the government has lost two crucial days in the 16-day-long monsoon session of Parliament.
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