Lok Sabha adjourned amidst Centre-West Bengal govt face off

The Lok Sabha was not allowed to function amidst opposition parties' slogan shouting "CBI totah (caked parrot) hai" following the high political face-off between the Centre and the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government.

The lower house was later adjourned for the day.

This comes amidst Mamata Banerjee's 'Save the Constitution' dharna in Kolkata. The sit-in protest started on Sunday after a CBI team moved to arrest the Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar from his residence. The team was not allowed and the police, in turn, detained the officials in a high voltage drama.

While several opposition leaders raised slogans of "CBI totah hai" and demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi make a statement in Parliament, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh defended the move by CBI saying Rajeev Kumar was not cooperating in the investigation in the case.

"Detaining CBI officials from performing their duties is unprecedented. The action was taken after the Supreme Court had ordered an investigation into Saradha chit fund case," Rajnath said in the Lok Sabha.

"The Police Commissioner was summoned many times before but he did not appear. Hence, CBI was forced to take this action. He was not cooperating in the investigation," added the Home Minister.

Soon after his speech, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adjourned the Lok Sabha till 2 pm.

When the House resumed later, it was again adjourned for the entire day as the Opposition protests continued over the issue.