LS adjourned again over Subash Kashyap issue

New Delhi, May 23: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today created a ruckus over the decision to reprimand former Secretary General of the Lok Sabha Subash C Kashyap for ''grave misconduct'', forcing adjournment of the House twice, the second time till 1400 hrs.

As soon as the House met after the first adjournment at 1200 hrs, the adamant BJP members again did not allow it to function and trooped into the well shouting slogans, ''lok tantra mein tanashai nahi chalegi, nahi chalegi (democracy cannot have dictatorship)'', ''hamaari awaaz suni jaye (our voice has to be heard)'', and ''sadan ki mariyada ka palan karo (respect the dignity of the House)''.

Amid the slogan-chanting, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee called for laying of papers.

As he skipped some agenda to allow Finance Minister P Chidambaram to speak on a debate on the rise in prices of essential commodities, the BJP members stepped up their chanting.

Since nothing could be heard in the din, Mr Chatterjee immediately adjourned the House till 1400 hrs, within ten minutes of its meeting.

Earlier, when the Speaker called for starting of the Question Hour after obituary reference to former member Rambahadur Singh, Ms Maneka Gandhi (BJP) rose up to ask how the House could take a unilateral decision on such an important issue, and wanted an immediate discussion on it.

BJP Deputy Leader of the House Vijay Kumar Malhotra said it was strange that none of the NDA members were informed of such an important meeting where the government took the unilateral decision.

The Committee of Privileges, in its report, had found that the former Secretary General had committed a gross breach of privilege and contempt of the House by ''imputing motives to the Speaker in discharging his duties and casting reflections on his impartiality''.
The government had proposed to move a motion today agreeing with the conclusions, and admonishing Mr Kashyap for his ''grave misconduct''.

UNI

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