RS adjourned for the recess; Pandemonium continues over Nandigram

New Delhi, Mar 21 (UNI) The Rajya Sabha was today adjourned for the recess -- till April 26 -- after the House speedily went through the motions of transacting listed business even as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party persisted with its demand for a discussion on the Nandigram violence.

As soon as the Upper House assembled at noon -- after an earlier adjournment shortly after it had met in the morning at 1100 hrs, the BJP members rose in their seats raising slogans against West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and demanding that the issue of the killings in Nandigram be taken up for discussion.

However, Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan had a different agenda -- he asked for the laying of official papers by a score of Ministers, rushed through the process of adoption of The National Institutes of Technology Bill, 2006, and finally called out the names of members who had sought to raise Special Mentions in the House.

All this took less than 25 minutes -- and all through, the hullabulloo raised by the BJP brigade made it impossible for anyone to hear what was being said.

The score-and-a-half-strong BJP brigade kept chanting slogans demanding hanging for the West Bengal Chief Minister who, they alleged, was ''near and dear'' to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

And while the NIT Bill was almost halfway through its speedy passage in the House, almost half-a-score of BJP members moved into the well closing in upon the Chair.

But, undeterred, the Deputy Chairman kept the drama going -- and with the Papers laid, the Bill adopted and the Special Mentions submitted in the House, he finally announced the adjournment till April 26.

Earlier, the House was adjourned till noon following pandemonium as the Opposition persisted with its demand for a discussion on the Nandigram killings.

As soon as the House assembled X X X Eds picking up here line one para two of PAR 3, Adjourned-RS.

UNI