BJP stages walkout over Rajnath arrest

Noisy scenes dominated the Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha as members sought to raise a number of issues.

Noisy scenes dominated the Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday as members sought to raise a number of issues simultaneously, culminating in a walk out by the BJP over the arrest of its chief Rajanth Singh near Singur.

HT Image

As soon as the Zero Hour began, members belonging to BJP, Samajwadi Party, AIADMK and Left parties sprang to their feet and sought to raise different issues simultaneoulsy, plunging the House into turmoil.

While SP and AIADMK made a fresh attempt to raise certain allegations against a key Union Minister, Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan objected to it saying their notice was pending before the Chairman.

This led to a vociferous protest which grew louder when Rashid Alvi and V Narayanaswami (Cong) tried to shout them down.

Adding fuel to the fire, MA Naqvi (BJP) condemned some political parties for allegedly glorifying terrorists during the bypoll to an Assembly constituency in Kerala. This led to another bout of protests from Left parties and Congress.

As the determined Deputy Chairman refused to adjourn the House, the BJP members staged a walkout.

Earlier, BJP leader MM Joshi demanded that UNAIDS be banned from functioning in the country for wrong depiction of Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh in the Indian Map and giving erroneous AIDS figures.

C Ramachandraiah (TDP) raised the plight of Rural Bank staff and Ramdeo Bhandary (RJD) expressed concern over the murder of a History professor in Patna.