Uproar over issues relating to Sri Lankan Tamils and Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma’s remarks against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav led to the adjournment of Parliament for an hour today.
Soon after Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar condoled the recent death of former member Naresh Kumar Baliyan, hell broke loose with the DMK, AIADMK and CPI members walking into the Well raising slogans against atrocities on Tamils in Sri Lanka.
They were soon joined in the Well by SP members, who carried copies of press reports on Verma’s comments on Yadav.
They shouted slogans seeking the Minister’s removal. Verma, a former associate of Yadav and now a Congress minister, has reportedly accused the SP chief of having terror links.
Some BJP members were also on their feet raising certain issues, but they could not be heard in the din.
The Speaker soon adjourned the House till noon.
The Rajya Sabha too plunged into chaos soon after it mourned the death of 37 persons in a road accident in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.
DMK and AIADMK members rushed into the Well shouting slogans demanding justice for Tamils in Sri Lanka. AIADMK members carried posters of slain LTTE chief Prabhakaran’s son and shouted “We want justice.”
As Chairman Hamid Ansari did not react to the slogan shouting from either side of his podium, AIADMK members squatted in the Well and continued to shout: “Tamils want justice.”
After a few minutes of slogan shouting, he asked members to go back to their places and allow Question Hour to run.
SP members too trooped into the Well raising slogans demanding the dismissal of Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma for his utterances against their party chief.
All the while, leader of the DMK in the Rajya Sabha, Tiruchi Siva kept speaking from his seat on the Tamil issue but was not audible in the din.
As Siva aggressively moved towards the Well, Ansari adjourned the House till noon.