Parliament Winter Session: RS adjourned amid uproar

The Rajya Sabha on Friday has been adjourned for the day following heated exchanges between the government and the Opposition over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's allegations that the Congress Party held a secret meeting with Pakistani officials and discussed Gujarat elections.

The Upper House saw repeated adjournments in pre and post-lunch sittings.

The uproar began after Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu announced his disqualification decision earlier in the day, citing defection as the ground for their disqualification.

Soon following that, the opposition members raised objections to it, on which Naidu stated that there could not be any discussion on the Chair's ruling. Meanwhile, the Janata Dal (United) MPs objected to it and the opposition members came near the Chair's podium shouting slogans.

The Chair adjourned the House till 12 noon.

When the House met for the Question Hour, Prime Minister's allegations against Manmohan Singh and others were brought up again.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "This is not an ordinary allegation. Questions have been raised over the integrity of a former Prime Minister, former Vice President and several retired diplomats". Naidu rejected the request and demanded the members to continue with the Question Hour.

On not heeding to their plea, members once again rushed near the Chairman's podium, forcing him to adjourn the Upper House till 2.30 p.m.

Subsequently, Prime Minister Modi reiterated his claims that during a meeting at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house, the guests including Manmohan Singh, discussed the Gujarat polls with Pakistan's High Commissioner to India and former Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri.

The third time, as soon as the House met after the lunch break, Samajwadi Party (SP) member Naresh Agarwal objected to the government's affidavit in the Supreme Court regarding setting up of fast track courts for trials of the elected representatives.

As Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien disallowed discussion on the topic, the opposition members created another row in the house. Kurien then adjourned the Upper House for 10 minutes. Soon after the break, the opposition members came again near the Chair's podium shouting slogans.

Kurien then adjourned the House till Monday.