RS Deputy Chairman P J Kurien urges Mayawati to take back her resignation

Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien, whose stopping BSP supremo Mayawati from speaking beyond the stipulated three minutes on Tuesday triggered her decision to resign from the house, on Wednesday urged her to reconsider the move.

Kurien said that it was not just his urging but the "sentiment of the entire house".

Since Mayawati was not present in the house at that time, Kurien asked Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Satish Chandra Mishra to take his message to the party chief.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad seconded Kurien's appeal and urged Mayawati to take back her resignation.

Mayawati had on Tuesday sent a three-page resignation letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, stating that she was resigning as she was not being allowed to speak in the house on important matters.

She had sought time to speak under Rule 267 but Kurien, who was presiding over the Rajya Sabha at that time, gave her just three minutes to speak as per Zero Hour rule. This enraged Mayawati, who announced then and there itself that she was quitting.

On Wednesday, Kurien explained to Mishra that he had no intention of not letting Mayawati speak in the house, but it was so that he had not taken up the 267 notices by that time.

"Let me set the record straight. I would have allowed her to speak under (Rule) 267 later. But when I came in the house, she was already up to speak. So, I allowed her three minutes out of turn. I even bypassed the Leader of Opposition to allow her to speak first," Kurien said.

"It was only a procedural matter. We have immense respect for Mayawatiji... I ask her, and I presume it is the sentiment of the entire house, to reconsider her decision (of quitting)," Kurien said.

At this, Azad stood up and said that the Opposition requests her to take back her resignation.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi too nodded in affirmative as Kurien looked towards the treasury benches.

"It is the decision of the house to ask her through (Satish Chandra) Mishraji to take back her resignation," Kurein said.