Airport strike, Rahul's Orissa visit force adjournment of LS

New Delhi, Mar 12 (UNI)The strike by the employees of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) today figured in the Lok Sabha with the Left members creating noisy scenes on the issue, forcing the Chair to adjourn the house for nearly 15 minutes.

As soon as the House reassembled after an earlier adjournment on the Kannur violence, the Left members were on their feet seeking the response of Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on the nation-wide strike by about 15,000 employees in protest against the closure of the Hyderabad and Bangalore airports.

Simultaneously, the members of the BJD were also on their feet seeking to raise the recent visit of Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi to Orissa and his criticism of the BJD-led government in the state.

Mr Mohan Singh, who was in the chair, asked the members to resume their seats and allow the slated discussion on the General Budget for 2008-09 to take place.

When his repeated requests fell on deaf ears, the Chair adjourned the house for 15 minutes till 1330 hrs.

When the House reassembled at 1330 hrs, the Left and BJD members were again on their feet seeking to raise their respective issues.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is also the Leader of the House, assured the Left members that the concerned Minister would inform the house about the developments relating to the AAI employees strike before the House would rise for the day.

The Chair asked the BJD members to cooperate with him so that BJP Deputy Leader V K Malhotra could initiate the discussion on the General Budget. He assured the BJD members that he would allow them to raise the issue at the zero hour tomorrow.

With the Left and BJD members resuming their seats, the House began the general discussion on the Budget.

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