DDCA row: Lok Sabha adjourned briefly as Congress asks Jaitley to quit

Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for nearly 20 minutes this morning amid slogan- shouting by Congress members seeking resignation of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over allegations of corruption in DDCA.

As soon as the House met for the day, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said she had disallowed notices of adjournment motion moved by various opposition members including those from Congress and the Left parties on a variety of issues.

In the absence of Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, party chief whip Jyotiraditya Scindia rose to speak asking Speaker to consider their notice.

An apparently peeved Mahajan said, "today I will not stop you from speaking. Speak as much as you want."

But BJP members led by Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy objected to Scindia speaking, saying the House cannot be disrupted daily and the Question Hour should be allowed to continue.

Another Congress member Deepender Singh Hooda wanted to say something, but was disallowed. He later went out of the House.

In the absence of Kharge, Congress members were apparently unsure for some time on how to carry out the protest. Party chief Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi were present in the House.

Soon thereafter, Congress members rushed to the Well raising slogans like 'Jaitley ji istifa do' (Arun Jaitley tender resignation) and 'Hitlershahi nahin chalegi' (Hitler style rule is not done).

While the Question Hour continued for some time, Speaker adjourned the proceedings around 1110 hours, saying "you have no interest in running the House."

The House was adjourned due to the protests by the Speaker, who on earlier occasions, had continued with the Question Hour despite much louder protests.

Today's protest by Congress was milder compared to the other days which saw noisy slogan-shouting by Opposition members.