Rajya Sabha adjourned again over demonetisation

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned again on Thursday in the post lunch session as opposition members insisted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should sit through the whole debate.

A ruckus was witnessed even as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley assured the House that the Prime Minister will participate and speak in the debate, but the opposition did not relent.

As soon as the House met post lunch, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati, who was speaking when the House was adjourned, said she had requested Modi to sit through the debate in the post lunch sitting as well.

"Whole opposition requested the Prime Minister to sit through the debate. It is sad that he is not in the House after lunch," Mayawati said.

The BSP chief was supported by Communist party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury and Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad.

"We had said that if the Prime Minister is here for the debate the House will run, otherwise it will not run," Azad said.

Deputy Chairman P. J. Kurien however questioned how it was possible for the Prime Minister to be present all the time.

"I had this doubt and now it is confirmed that the opposition is trying to run away from debate and trying to find reasons for it... Continue the debate, Modi will participate as per the tradition. There is no tradition that the Prime Minister will sit through the whole debate," he said.

Azad, however, said that during the debate on 2G scam, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sat through the whole debate on the opposition's insistence.

As opposition members created a ruckus, the House was adjourned till 3 p.m.

The Upper House saw one adjournment soon after it met. However, when it assembled at 12 noon after the first adjournment, the debate on demonetisation was taken up as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the House.

--IANS

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