Oppn stalls Parliament over 'Q'

Both houses of the Parliament were disrupted on Monday after the BJP, BSP and Samajawadi Party (SP) charged the Congress-led UPA government with deliberately delaying the extradition of Italian businessman Quattrocchi because of his alleged involvement in the Bofor’s pay off case.

Soon after the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha met for the day, BJP and SP members rushed to the well, raising slogans against the Congress party.

The Lok Sabha was adjourned soon after for an hour and the Rajya Sabha proceedings were suspended till 2 pm.

The Lower House again met at 12 noon and the Speaker called on Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to present the budget for 2007-08. Members of the Opposition parties, however, continued their slogan-shouting and tried to again stall proceedings.

The railway minister, however, went ahead with his ministry’s budget in spite of the din all around him. His budget speech lasted for 90 minutes.

The Upper House reconvened at 2 pm but disruptions and slogan-shouting continued. As Deputy Chairman A Rahman Khan called on the minister to lay a copy of the budget, BJP members rushed to the well once again.

The BJP members said that the government should make efforts to extradite the Italian businessman to stand trial in India. As the din persisted, the Deputy Chairman adjourned the House for the day.

First Published: Feb 26, 2007 21:23 IST