The Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 11 am on Thursday as Congress members caused a commotion over the ongoing political crisis in Karnataka. This is the second straight day that proceedings in the Upper House have been disrupted over the matter.

Bharatiya Janata Party’s Leader in Rajya Sabha Thawarchand Gehlot and Congress leader Anand Sharma both announced that the parties had come to an agreement that the discussion on the Budget be resumed on Thursday. “We are very serious about the debate,” Gehlot said. “We understand that the finance minister is busy in the Lok Sabha. Tomorrow [Thursday] let the honourable finance minister also be present. Let there be orderly debate tomorrow morning beginning at 11.”

At the start of the day, Congress leader Anand Sharma and party members sought permission to speak in the Rajya Sabha on the developments in Karnataka, where the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government is under threat of collapse, The Indian Express reported. Chairperson Venkaiah Naidu tried to continue the proceedings but adjourned the House till 12 pm.

After proceedings restarted, Chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu said he had not admitted adjournment motion notices by Congress members, including Kapil Sibal, under Rule 267. “Let us not put democracy in danger,” Naidu told the Congress MPs, according to PTI.

As Congress leaders continued to protest, Naidu said: “You don’t want to allow democracy to function here?” The House then took up Zero Hour and four members made their submissions but Congress MPs disrupted proceedings again.

Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, who was not present in the House at the start of the proceedings, sought to raise the adjournment motion notice given by his colleagues but Naidu said the chair’s ruling was final. “If any member has any problem, he can come and see me later,” Naidu added.

Congress members then moved into the Well of the House, shouting “stop horse trading of MLAs”. Naidu appealed to them, but as Congress leaders continued to protest, he adjourned the House till 2 pm. However, as the protests continued, the proceedings were postponed by another hour.

Congress leader Rajeev Gowda, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s Tiruchi Siva, Samajwadi Party’s Ravi Prakash Verma, Communist Party of India leader D Raja and Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s TK Rangarajan gave adjournment notices in the Rajya to discuss the matter of “defections being engineered to dislodge elected governments”, ANI reported.

Lok Sabha

Congress MPs staged a walkout after party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury raised concerns about the developments in Karnataka. “Martial law is being applied in Maharashtra,” The Indian Express quoted him as saying. “Karnataka Irrigation Minister DK Shivakumar was prevented by Mumbai police from entering the hotel where our MLAs are kept. They [government] are destroying the democracy.”

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Prahlad Joshi said the rebel MLAs in Mumbai had given it in writing to the commissioner that they were under threat from Shivakumar. “That is why they are being given protection,” Joshi added.

BJP MP Tejasvi Surya called upon the Centre to extend the National Register of Citizens in Karnataka and Bengaluru to “weed out Bangladeshis who have come here illegally”, reported ANI. “Illegal immigrants are a security threat to the state,” he added. “Yesterday a terror module that operates from Bangladesh was busted in Bengaluru.”

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed concerns on the Union Budget, saying that it “reflects the government’s commitment to substantially boost investment in agriculture, health, and education”. She also said that the government had planned to take care of sectors like education and health through rationalisation of the resources.

“There has been an increase of over Rs. 80,000 crore from last financial year, and more than 2 lakh crore over the Budget of 2017-18,” Sitharaman said. “This shows the serious intent of the government towards a stronger economy and the country’s development.”

She added that agricultural exports would double by 2022 due to the government’s policies, adding that the Centre was focusing on market reforms.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy said that Article 370, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was a temporary provision. “At present, Article 35A is contained in the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954 which was added through the Constitution Order issued by the President of India under Article 370,” he said, according to PTI.

The New Delhi International Arbitration Centre Bill, 2019, Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2019 are also expected to be discussed in the Lok Sabha.