Cong derails RS proceedings over pvt member bill on AP

Opposition Congress derailed the proceedings of Rajya Sabha today, forcing early adjournment of the House, as it pressed for taking up of a private member bill on special package for Andhra Pradesh with a threat of not allowing government business till the demand is met.
The House could not function after lunch as the vociferous Congress members created uproar and trooped into Well of the House to press their demand.
The Bill, which was to be moved by Congress member K V P Ramchandra Rao on last Friday during Private Member business, could not be taken up on that day as the House was adjourned due to ruckus over AAP MP Bhagwant Mann's controversial filming of Parliament.

Deputy Leader of Congress Anand Sharma led his party's charge saying "grave injustice" was done when the ruling party and its cabinet ministers disrupted the House on Friday as a result of which the private member bill could not taken up.
"What happened on Friday was by design. It was planned by the government to disrupt the proceedings," Sharma said.
He made it clear that the opposition party does not want anything else discussed until the Andhra bill is taken up.

Slamming the government for silence over the demand, he said, "That day (Friday), they were shouting vociferously. Today they have lost their voice. We cannot allow government business to be taken up (unless the private member bill is taken up)."

The Congress party, he said, was not coming in the way of government business but registering its protest over the way an important bill was scuttled.
Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the bill can be taken up only on August 5 as, according to practice, private bills and resolutions are taken up on alternate Fridays.
"It is my ruling that the Bill will not be taken up today for discussion," he said.
Sharma said a special package had been cleared by the
previous cabinet which was supposed to come into force but the NDA government was sitting on it for the last two years.

Congress was supported by CPM leader Sitaram Yechury and Naresh Aggarwal of the Samajwadi Party who wanted the Andhra Bill to be taken up for discussion.
Kurien wanted the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2016, to be taken up as was decided on Thursday but due to the uproar, it could not be done.
Bhupender Yadav of BJP accused Congress of being anti-adivasis saying it was stalling an important Bill which would have helped the tribals of the country.
Earlier, soon after the House met for the day, Anand Sharma raised the issue and threatened that the main opposition party will not cooperate with the government on legislative business unless the demand on Andhra bill is met.

"The situation was entirely the creation of government," the Congress leader said, demanding that the bill be listed as item number one when Private Member business is listed.
Members have a right to seek implementation of a package for Andhra Pradesh, he said, adding if the bill was not listed, the Congress will not cooperate on government business.
Satyavrat Chaturvedi (Cong) said the ruling side had disrupted the proceedings of Rajya Sabha last Friday seeking suspension or arrest of Mann, who is not a member of the Rajya Sabha, and such action was not within the jurisdiction of the House.

With no assurance coming from the government on the private members bill, Congress members kept raising the issue from their seats even as Kurien moved to take up Zero Hour issues. He disallowed any further discussion on the matter.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was present in the House then but did not respond to the demand.