Opposition parties on Monday staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha after an uproar about the proceedings of the Lok Sabha, where they alleged that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi was not allowed to finish his speech, reported PTI.

In the Rajya Sabha, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge raised the matter when the Question Hour started at 12 pm. To this, CP Radhakrishnan, the chairman of the Upper House, told Kharge that he should not comment on the proceedings of the Lower House and that his remarks about the Lok Sabha would not go on record.

However, Opposition MPs continued to protest and eventually walked out of the House as Radhakrishnan refused to relent, reported PTI.

The Lok Sabha has been witnessing disruptions since February 3, with the Opposition protesting against Gandhi not being allowed to quote an excerpt from an unpublished memoir of former Indian Army chief MM Naravane about the political decision-making during the 2020 border tensions between India and China.

Here’s more on this and other updates:

  • Kharge began his speech in the Rajya Sabha by saying that he was only raising matters concerning the Constitution. “Parliament consists of our House and Lok Sabha…and the Constitution recognises these two Houses,” said the Congress leader. “We have to run according to procedures and rules.”

  • As the Opposition started shouting slogans demanding that Kharge be allowed to speak about the proceedings of the Lok Sabha, Radhakrishnan said that nobody can force the chair, reported The Hindu.

  • Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha was adjourned till Tuesday as it convened at 2 pm. The Lower House saw several adjournments since 11 am on Monday as the Opposition parties continued to demand a discussion on the trade deal between the United States and India.

  • Gandhi said that he was given an assurance by the Lok Sabha speaker that he would be allowed to raise some points before the discussion on the Union Budget begins, but the chair was “going back on its words”, reported ANI. “I want to know if I would be allowed to speak those points or not,” the leader of Opposition told BJP MP Sandhya Ray, who was presiding over the proceedings.

  • Ray said that she had not received any notice regarding the matters Gandhi wanted to raise. “No issue will come forward without notice,” she was quoted as saying by ANI. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said that no assurance was given to Gandhi.

  • Meanwhile, women MPs from the Congress wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was absent from the Lower House during the Motion of Thanks on the president’s address, not because of threats from them, but because he “did not have the courage” to face the Opposition, reported The Hindu.

  • In their letter, the women MPs said that Birla has been forced by the ruling party to “make false, baseless, and defamatory allegations against women Members of Parliament belonging to the Opposition, particularly from the Indian National Congress”, reported The Hindu. They also said that the leader of Opposition had been “deliberately denied” the opportunity to speak on the Motion of Thanks. “Our protests have been unrelentingly peaceful, firm, and entirely within democratic norms,” they wrote.

  • On Thursday, the Lok Sabha passed the Motion of Thanks without Modi giving his customary reply, as Opposition MPs continued their protest. This was the first time since 2004 that the prime minister has not replied to the Motion of Thanks in the Lok Sabha.

  • Birla had said later that he had urged the prime minister not to come to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday to avoid a “mishap”. “Everyone saw how the [Opposition] MPs approached the prime minister’s chair in the House...” Birla said in Parliament. “I got information that any mishap could have happened.”