Rajya Sabha today got adjourned twice since morning till 3 pm following protests by opposition and TDP members seeking probe into the banking scam, a special package for Andhra Pradesh and the Cauvery water dispute.
Soon after it met for the day, the House was adjourned till 2 PM amidst the protests by Congress members over former minister Y S Chowdary's remarks against the erstwhile UPA regime over the division of Andhra Pradesh.
When it reassembled at 2 PM, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien adjourned the House within five minutes after the opposition members trooped into the Well raising slogans.
Kurien tried to pacify the agitating members saying the government was ready for discussions on the issues they were raising and they should return to their seats.
He tried to take up a short duration discussion on the scams in public sector banks, saying the notice for the short duration discussion "has been admitted and the government is ready for discussions on it."
However, as the members continued their protests, following which Deputy Chairman adjourned the house till 3 PM.
Earlier in the day, the Congress members trooped into the Well raising slogans after TDP MP Chowdhary said the division of Andhra Pradesh in 2014 was carried out in a "hasty, unjust and unscientific" manner.
Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said the former minister had been allowed permission under Rule 241 to make a statement on the reasons for quitting the Union Cabinet.
Two ministers of the TDP -- Chowdary and Ashok Gajapathi Raju -- had quit their posts after the party pulled out of the government over the issue of special status to Andhra Pradesh.
Chowdary began by thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party leader N Chandrababu Naidu for giving him an opportunity to be part of the Cabinet and then went on to say that he was making the statement to set the perspective right and "separate truth from propaganda".
He said the division of Andhra Pradesh in 2014 was done in a "hasty, unjust and unscientific manner" by the government of the time.
The comment drew a sharp reaction from the Congress members who shouted in protest and started moving into the Well.
Naidu asked Chowdary not to deviate from the approved text of the statement and anything he said beyond it would not go on record.
But this did not satisfy the Congress members who moved into the Well with some holding placard supporting a special package for Andhra Pradesh. Naidu said the House was not a place to play politics and adjourned it till 2 PM.
Earlier the House mourned the death of its former member Hamida Habibullah. A qualified nurse who served in the military hospital in Lucknow till World War-II and had started the famed NGO SEWA, Habibullah died on March 13 at the age of 101 years.
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