Both Houses of Parliament adjourned till 1200 hrs

New Delhi, Mar 20 (UNI) Both Houses of Parliament were today adjourned till noon after the Opposition and the Treasury benches created ruckus over the Nandigram issue and a related incident in which Finance Minister P Chidambaram's speech was disrupted.

As soon as the Lok Sabha met, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani moved an adjournment motion on behalf of the NDA seeking the suspension of the Question Hour and discussion on the police firing at Nandigram, in which 14 people were killed and 50 injured.

Mr Prabhunath Singh (JD-U) also got up demanding taking up the Nandigram matter.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee insisted that he would allow the discussion at 1200 hrs after the Question Hour. But the Opposition members rushed into the well of the House and began shouting anti-government slogans forcing the Chair to adjourn the House.

In the Rajya Sabha, the treasury benches made vociferous protests over yesterday's incident in which BJP Member Mr S S Ahluwalia allegedly tried to disrupt Finance Minister P Chidambaram's speech. The BJP had wanted the Finance Minister not to read the statement, but lay it on the table of the House, so as to focus the House's attention on the Nandigram issue.

As soon the House assembled in the morning today, the Congress members rose up and demanded an apology from Mr Ahluwalia over yesterday's incident.

Their interpretation of Mr Ahluwalia's behaviour was strongly contested by the BJP members.

However, all this had taken hardly two minutes then Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat announced adjournment of the House till 1200 hrs.

UNI