Shekhawat admonishes Congress MPs for disrupting Question Hr

New Delhi, Aug 25 (UNI) The ruling Congress Party today drew flak from Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in the Rajya Sabha when its chief whip V Narayansamy and another Member Rajiv Shukla stalled the proceedings in the Question Hour for about seven minutes on the remarks of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah about handling of terrorism by previous governments.

As soon as the House assembled for the day, Mr Narayansamy and Mr Shukla rose up and wanted to discuss the matter, but Mr Shekhawat firmly said he would not allow it in the Question Hour and asked the Question No one to be taken up.

However, the proceedings became impossible as the Congress Members did not sit down and continued pursuing their demand voceferously , having some heated exchanges with the Samajwadi Party MP Shahid Siddiqui in between, while the Chair kept on telling them that nothing would go on record.

''You are a chief whip of the party, you should know how to behave,'' Mr Shekhawat told Mr Narayansamy.

He ordered all their remarks to be expunged. But still they kept on shouting, forcing the Chairman to remark,'' If the ruling party behaves like that, what'll I do?'' All this took over seven minutes before the questions could be resumed.

In the interview given to the Tehelka magazine that hits the stands today, Mr Abdullah had said the swap of jailed militants and terrorists for then Home Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed's daughter Rubaiya in 1989 and for passengers of the hijacked plane in Kandahar later was mainly responsible for the spread of terrorism.

Mr Abdullah, who was Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir at the time the two incidents happenbed, said the release altered the fortunes of the state and the country, while had also having a worldwide impact.

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