Alleging that a Union minister was openly supporting Maoists, the Left and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday joined hands in the Rajya Sabha to slam Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for her controversial remarks on the killing of Maoist leader Azad.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India-Marxist said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has repeatedly said that Maoists pose the gravest threat to India's security.
Then, 'how can a Cabinet minister openly support the Maoists,' he asked, prompting protest from three ministers belonging to Trinamool Congress.
Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan intervened to say 'no member can disturb (the proceedings), particularly a minister... it is not a good practice.'
However, Mukul Roy, a minister of state, kept objecting to the Left raising the issue.
S S Ahluwalia of the BJP opposed interventions by the TMC ministers, particularly Roy and Dinesh Trivedi, who are not members of the Rajya Sabha.
Yechury said the statement of the railway minister in Lalgarh where she described a Maoist leader's killing as murder was a negation of the constitutional propriety.
He said the railway minister defended her statement describing Azad's killing as murder.
"This is matter of grave Constitutional propriety," Yechury said. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prithviraj Chavan said he has checked with the Trinamool Congress friends about Lalgarh rally and was told 'nothing of this sort happened.'
This prompted Yechury to say, "The manner in which the minister replied shows that he himself is not convinced."
He said a TMC member had given a privilege notice against Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley for his remarks last week on the issue.
However, the deputy chairman said, "There is no valid privilege notice before the chairman. We have not taken cognisance of the privilege notice."
