New Delhi, July 29 (Agency) Both Houses of Parliament failed to transact any meaningful business for yet another week, as the day started with disruptions at both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha remained disrupted on Friday with ruling party MPs pressing for an apology from Congress President Sonia Gandhi over party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s remarks against President Droupadi Murmu. Opposition MPs were also up on their feet and many of them trooped to the Well of the House. The House was first adjourned within minutes as it assembled at 11 am, and again at 12 noon when it was adjourned for the day. Similar scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha which was also adjourned within minutes of after meeting at 11 am, and for the day at 12 noon. The controversy over Chowdhury’s reference to the President as ‘Rashtrapatni’ raged on Friday as well. Congress MPs had submitted notices to refer the matter of the alleged heckling of Sonia Gandhi in Lok Sabha post adjournment on Thursday. Ruling BJP MPs have stressed that the Congress President should apologise on behalf of Chowdhury for his remarks.
Chowdhury also met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday as the impasse continued. The Berhampur MP, who is leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha, has extended an apology over his remark, and has also sought an appointment from President Murmu to personally apologise. In the Rajya Sabha there were heated exchanges between opposition and treasury benches as the Upper House met over various issues including a Sonia Gandhi-Smriti Irani spat in the Lok Sabha. First, the House was adjourned till 12 noon minutes after the members assembled for the day and then for the rest of the day when it reconvened at noon. Deputy Chairman Harivansh informed that opposition lawmakers Deependra Huda, Ranjita Ranjan, K C Venugopal, Mallikarjun Kharge, Elemaram Kareem, Javed Ali Khan and Binoy Viswam have given notices under Rule 267 to discuss various issues including price rise and Agnipath scheme of recruitment but the notices have not been admitted by Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu. He said that discussion on price rise has already been accepted for the upcoming week.
The Chair’s announcement didn’t go down well with the opposition and the MPs raised slogans, leading to the adjournment of the House till 12 noon. The showdown between the government and opposition MPs escalated on Thursday after the suspension of 27 MPs and uproar over Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s “Rashtrapatni” remark for President Droupadi Murmu. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge was not allowed to raise a legitimate point-of-order in the Rajya Sabha because of noisy scenes by BJP MPs and Ministers. He also shared the copy of the point-of-order in which Kharge strongly objected to over Leader of House Piyush Goyal and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman seeking an apology from Sonia Gandhi on the ground that she is a member of the other House. “It is a time honoured convention that reflections or critical remarks should not be made on the other House or members of the other House.
Furthermore, it has been held in the past by the Chairman that no person who is not a member of the House can be referred to in a derogatory manner or in any other way afflicting his/her reputation,” Kharge’s point-of-order read. “We take a strong objection to the manner in which Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal had made uncalled for critical references to Sonia Gandhi, who is a member of the other House,” it added. As the uproar between both sides continued, the Chair adjourned the House till August 1 at 11 am.