BJP-RJD spat stalls House

Unruly remarks by MPs rather than national issues are stalling proceedings in Parliament. Two stand-offs ended today, but a third began.

Unruly remarks by MPs rather than national issues are stalling proceedings in Parliament. Two stand-offs ended on Wednesday, but a third began.

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In the Rajya Sabha, Mani Shankar Aiyar expressed “regret” for his remarks against leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley, which had provoked the BJP to repeatedly stall proceedings.

Aiyar said the Chair had already expunged words used by him during the debate on the working of the Home Ministry on May 3. After Jaitley’s nod, the BJP allowed the House to resume business, which included introduction of the green tribunal bill and the debate on it.

The quarrel between Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay and CPM MP Basudeb Acharia in the Lok Sabha ended with the Trinamool MP being reprimanded.

“Those words and the manner in which they were said were quite unbecoming of a member of the House. I disapprove of such conduct. I hope no member will again give an occasion for the Chair to make such an observation,” said Speaker Meira Kumar.

However, the peace did not last long. Minutes later, a spat between the BJP’s Ananth Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad stalled proceedings for the day.

“Aap desh ko bechne ki politics kar rahen hai (You are doing politics of selling the country),” he said when Lalu asked him to speak on the subject.

His remarks saw a sudden split in the Opposition — visible in the morning over Bandopadhayay’s remarks — with the RJD, SP, Trinamool and other smaller parties training their guns against the BJP.

When the House resumed, Kumar refused to accept the demand of senior leaders such as the JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav and SP’s Mulayam Singh Yadav to apologise.