LS, RS adjourned over Ronen Sen's remarks

New Delhi, Aug 21: The Rajya Sabha was rocked today by Indian Ambassador to US Ronen Sen's reported remarks about the opponents of the nucler deal, forcing the Chair to adjourn the House for an hour till 1200 hrs.

As soon as the House assembled for the day, the Opposition members and the Left stood up waving copies of an English daily in which the Ambassador was reported to have termed all those opposing the deal''headless chickens''.

The irate members vociferously protested Mr Sen's remarks, making it impossible for Chairman Hamid Ansari to conduct the proceedings of the House and leading to its adjournment for an hour.

The Lok Sabha was adjourned twice till 1400 hrs today following an uproar by the Left and Opposition members over the alleged remarks by Indian ambassador to the US Ronen Sen terming the MPs opposing the nuclear deal ''headless chickens''.

As the House assembled in the morning, members of the the Left parties, the BJP and its allies got on their feet, taking umbrage to the Ambassador's interview to a website.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee sought to pacify the agitated members, saying, ''I have asked our Ambassador to issue a clarification, he was misquoted, either deliberately or through a misunderstanding, in several respects.'' ''These comments, if made by our Ambassador, and reportedly correctly, are totally unwarranted and unacceptable. In a democracy, there will always be a discussion and divergence of opinions.

Nobody can accuse others who hold divergent views,'' he, however, added. Mr Mukherjee also expressed regret over the development, saying, ''I regret the alleged comments which have hurt the feelings of the honourable members.''

However, the expression of ''regret'' by the government did not assuage the anger of the members with the Left MPs insisting that the interview was part of a disinformation campaign launched across the world. Leader of the Opposition in the House L K Advani said the government should first circulate the entire text of the interview. ''Only then, could members give their considered views over the issue.'' Speaker Somnath Chatterjee made a strong plea to members to resume their seats, saying that ''Parliament is in a position to take action if it found anyone showing disrespect to MPs and casting an aspersion on their freedom of expression.'' However, the irate MPs continued to be on their feet, forcing the Chair to first adjourn the House till 1130 hrs.

Later, as the House met, the members again raised an uproar, compelling a second adjournment till 1400 hrs.

UNI