Parliament resumes on a stormy note

The second phase of the Budget session of Parliament began on a stormy note on Thursday with both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha adjourning, following an uproar over OBC quota and other issues.

Amid pandemonium over various issues, Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day barely an hour after it assembled for the second phase of the Budget session.

After the wash out of the Question Hour, slogan-shouting BJP members stormed the well demanding arrest of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani in view of anti-India slogans raised at his rally in Kashmir.

Congress members sought to corner BJP on the human trafficking case involving its MP Babubhai Katara.

Sensing the combative mood of members, Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan adjourned the House for the day after laying of papers. Earlier, the House was adjourned till noon soon after it met for the day with members raising various issues disrupting proceedings.

In the Lok Sabha, RJD's Devendra Prasad Yadav was heard remarking that a situation of confrontation between the judiciary and the legislature appeared to have arisen over providing reservation to OBCs in educational institutions.

Telugu Desam Party members in both the Houses wanted discussion to be taken up on the Babhli barrage issue involving Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Congress members in the Lok Sabha from Andhra Pradesh were also seen raising the issue.

Both parties staged a sit-in outside Parliament House on Thursday morning demanding immediate stoppage of work on the project by Maharashtra.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee sought to restore order but in vain. He expressed anguish over the behaviour of members before adjourning the House till noon.

In the Rajya Sabha, soon after Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat made obituary references and condemned terrorist attacks in Algiers and Casablanca, CPI-M members were up on their feet as BJP and TDP members matched them in trying to raise issues.

The Chairman said he had received notices from Leader of the Opposition Jaswant Singh, CPI-M leaders and TDP leader Ravula Chandra Sekar Reddy and would allow them to speak in the same order.