RS witnesses ruckus over Nandigram : Adjourned till tomorrow

New Delhi, Mar 19 (UNI) The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day today amid ruckus over the Nandigram issue with opposition BJP and Congress members nearly coming to blows in the post-lunch session.

The House was adjourned earlier twice in the pre-lunch session over the same issue. However, when the House re-assembled at 1400 hrs, the slogan shouting by BJP members continued.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram started reading out a statement on the debate on Budget. After he was almost half-way through, BJP member S S Ahluwalia got up from his seat and went up to Mr P Chidambaram's seat objecting to his reading out the statement.

''He cannot read out the statement. We don't allow that. He should lay it on the table of the House,'' Mr Ahluwalia said even as other BJP members shouted slogans against the UPA, Ms Sonia Gandhi and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya calling him a ''killer'' and ''criminal.'' All of them trooped into the well of the House.

As Mr Ahluwalia approached Mr Chidambaram, other Congress members heckled and pushed him, preventing him from snatching the paper Mr Chidambaram was reading. The drama continued for ten minutes.

Seeing the situation turning ugly, Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan adjourned the House for ten minutes.

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