After Congress-BSP faceoff on Bundelkhand, SP rakes it up in LS

New Delhi, Apr 30 (UNI) The Samajwadi Party today jumped into the Bundelkhand issue in a tempestuous way in the Lok Sabha, forcing Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to name a party member for threatening the Chair and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad calling for expunging objectionable remarks and gestures made by Chandra Pal Singh Yadav.

The issue had earlier generated a lot of heat inside and outside Parliament between Bahujan Samaj Party president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and the Congress and its general secretary Rahul Gandhi. Mr Gandhi had visited the Bundelkhand area and slammed the Mayawati government for not doing enough for its people.

After Mr Yadav's party colleague Rajnarayan Budholiya focussed on the plight of people in the drought-hit area of Uttar Pradesh during zero hour, he stood up gesturing vigorously, demanding that people of Bundelkhand be at least provided drinking water immediately. When the House could take up cricket and other such issues, why could it not focus on the urgent need for providing drinking water to people of Bundelkhand, Mr Yadav asked.

But when the SP member kept on shouting his demands inspite of repeated pleas by the Speaker, Mr Chatterjee asked the House to look at his(Yadav) behaviour and asked the MP if shouting would help.

The Speaker told Mr Yadav that threatening gestures towards the Chair would not help the cause of people.

Stating that the House was not a ''wrestling den'', Mr Chatterjee asked Yadav to first learn to behave being a first-timer. The Speaker said; ''I will not ever allow you to speak'' in the House.

However, Mr Chatterjee at the same time asked the government to look into the demand raised by Mr Yadav, adding ''it is a serious matter.'' But when even after this Mr Yadav continued to speak and Mr Chatterjee quipped: ''This is not the way to behave'', the Railway Minister intervened, saying objecionable remarks and gestures by the SP member should be expunged.

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