Lok Sabha disrupted again

The Lok Sabha was disrupted once again on Friday as members from different parties trooped near the Speaker's podium, raising slogans and showing placards.

As the House met, the newly elected members -- Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) Sarfaraz Alam, who won from Araria, Bihar; Samajwadi Party's Nagendra Patel and Praveen Nishad, who won from Phulpur and Gorakhpur constituencies of Uttar Pradesh respectively -- took oath in the House amid cheering from the opposition benches.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan then condoled the death of three former members, physicist Stephen Hawking, and the nine CRPF personnel killed in the recent Naxal attack in Sukma, Chhattisgarh.

As soon as the obituary references ended, members from different parties once again trooped near the Speaker's podium raising slogans on a host of issues.

The parties including the Congress, the Trinamool and the Left parties have been protesting over the Punjab National Bank fraud.

Other issues being raised in the Lok Sabha include a special economic status for Andhra Pradesh being demanded by the Telugu Desam party and the YSR Congress, and the Cauvery Water Management issue being raised by the AIADMK among others.

--IANS

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