Will not join protests in Lok Sabha: Mulayam

The Samajwadi Party on Monday assured Speaker Sumitra Mahajan that it would not join the protests led by the Congress in the Lok Sabha.

SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav conveyed this to the speaker during a meeting after the first adjournment of the Lok Sabha in the morning.

Mahajan called the meeting with representatives of all political parties in the Lok Sabha to find a way out of the logjam in the lower house.

In the Lok Sabha, when it became clear that the house would not be able to function for yet another day as opposition members protested near the speaker's podium with placards and shouted slogans, Yadav suggested that the speaker hold a meeting with MPs to find a way out.

"You have to ensure that the house functions. This is happening because you have not spoken to anybody," Mulayam Singh Yadav said.

Mahajan said she had already spoken to the members of various parties and was still ready to do so immediately if they agreed.

"You just ask them (Congress) whether they are ready. I will adjourn the house immediately and call you," Mahajan said.

Amid the ruckus, the speaker then adjourned the house till noon.

The meeting was attended by Yadav, his nephew and party colleague Dharmendra Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal's Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav, Aam Aadmi Party's Bhagwant Mann, Trinamool Congress and Nationalist Congress Party.

According to sources, Yadav said the Samajwadi Party wants the house to function and it won't support the Congress protests.

He also said the house cannot function according to the whims and fancies of the Congress leadership.