Parliament Winter session: Both Houses adjourned till Tuesday due to uproar over Maharashtra
Congress President Sonia Gandhi joined party members to protest in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament over the Maharashtra government formation.
Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned till 2 pm on Tuesday following commotion over the government formation in Maharashtra early on Saturday.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday alleged that women parliamentarians were “manhandled” in the Lok Sabha by marshals during protests over the formation of government in Maharashtra. Congress President Sonia Gandhi led the protest and the party MPs shouted slogans against Bharatiya Janata Party.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said there was no point in asking any question in the House and said “democracy has been murdered” in Maharashtra.
BJP formed government on Saturday with the help of a breakaway faction of the Nationalist Congress Party. The Congress has moved an adjournment motion notice in the Lok Sabha while Communist Party of India leader Binoy Viswam submitted a “suspension of business” notice in the Rajya Sabha.
2.30 pm: Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are adjourned till 2 pm on Tuesday following an uproar over the formation of government in Maharashtra.
1.49 pm: “We have never experienced this inside Parliament,” Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury says, according to NDTV. “We will be waiting to see what action is taken against responsible people.”
1.44 pm: Congress files a formal complaint with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, alleging that two of their women MPs were manhandled by security personnel during the protests, reports News18.
1.04 pm: Union law minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad criticises Congress MPs for their behaviour in Lok Sabha, reports Firstpost.
1.01 pm: Rajya Sabha marshals return to their old uniform in Indian attire. Earlier, the Rajya Sabha marshals wore dark blue uniforms, with shoulder insignia, gold buttons and gold aiguillette – an ornament braided cord seen on Army uniforms. The uniform was criticised by former Army chiefs.
12.41 pm: Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleges that security personnel manhandled women parliamentarians, reports PTI. A section of Congress MPs clashed with Lok Sabha marshals during Question Hour on Monday, after which Speaker Om Birla ordered Congress MPs Hibi Eden and TN Prathapan to be sent out of the House.
11.20 am: Rajya Sabha has been adjourned till 2 pm amid the Opposition’s uproar over Maharashtra politics.
11.15 am: Lok Sabha has been adjourned till 12 pm amid ruckus in Parliament over government formation in Maharashtra.
11.12 am: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi says it does not make any sense to ask questions in the House as democracy as been murdered in Maharashtra, ANI reports.
11.11 am: Protests erupt in Lok Sabha against government formation in Maharashtra. Opposition members raise slogans saying “samvidhan ki hatya bandh karo”, or “stop the murder of the Constitution”, and vacate their seats, News18 reports.
11.07 am: Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi leads protests by the party on the government formation in Maharashtra, ANI reports.
10.16 am: Congress leader K Suresh says the party’s Parliamentary Strategy Group has decided to raise the Maharashtra crisis in both Houses. “We will stall proceedings in both Houses,” ANI quotes him as saying. “Government is killing democracy from Arunachal to Goa, now Karnataka and then Maharashtra. We have already discussed with like-minded parties.”
10.05 am: The Rajya Sabha Secretariat has brought out a publication titled “The Journey since 1952” that chronicles all the amendments passed by the Upper House, reports PTI. This comes a day ahead of “Constitution Day” celebrations in Parliament’s central Hall to mark the 70th anniversary of Constitution’s adoption by the Constituent Assembly.
10.02 am: Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and Congress’ chief whip in the Lower House, K Suresh, have given adjournment motion notice in protest against the current crisis in Maharashtra, reports ANI.
10 am: Rajya Sabha MP from the Communist Party of India Binoy Viswam has submitted a “suspension of business” notice in the Upper House under Rule 267 in protest against “Maharashtra government formation”.