RS adjourned for the day amid ruckus

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day on Tuesday minutes after it met in the post lunch session amid ruckus by both opposition and treasury benches.

As soon as the House met, Congress member Anand Sharma raised a point of order and referred to a remark made by Minister of State (MoS) for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel in the morning with respect to Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

Sharma said Goel -- who had sought an apology from Gandhi for allegedly making false allegations against the government on the Rafale deal -- had violated the rules as the Congress chief was not a member of the Rajya Sabha.

"This morning when the Leader of Opposition was speaking about the privilege notices that have been given, what could not be heard in the din and I checked the records, the MoS for Parliamentary Affairs referred to Rahul Gandhi who is Congress President but the member of Lok Sabha, and asking him to apologise. First the government lies...and then the Minister violates the rules," Sharma said.

He demanded to know as to "on what basis" Goel made such a remark.

This led to noisy exchanges between the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Paty (BJP) members, who were on their feet.

In the mean, the AIADMK members again trooped to the podium with placards.

Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the House for the day amid the ruckus.

Earlier in the day, as the upper House met, members from the Tamil Nadu-based parties, the AIADMK and DMK, came near the podium holding placards and raising slogans. They were protesting against a proposed dam on the Cauvery river.

Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the most important issue was the breach of privilege of the House by the government in the Rafale deal.

"The government has misled Parliament, it has misled the Supreme Court through a wrong affidavit and thus it has misled the country on the Rafale deal," Azad said.

Chairman Naidu said that he was "examining" the breach of privilege notices given by the opposition and would soon take a decision.

Goel said the government was ready to discuss all issues including Rafale on the floor of the House.

"It is the opposition that is running away from discussion," he said. The House was then adjourned till 2 p.m.

--IANS

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