Parliament adjourned sine die; Speaker states anguish

New Delhi, Sep 10: Both Houses of Parliament were today adjourned sine die with the Chairs being convinced that it was not possible to proceed with the business scheduled for the monsoon session in view of the standoff between the government and the opposition on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

The sine die adjournment of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha came four days before schedule, with the exasperated Presiding Officers declaring abruptly that they were left with no other option but to resort to the extreme step.

In fact, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee minced no words in condemning the disruptions, saying it put a question mark over the utility of parliamentary democracy itself.

At one point, Mr Chatterjee said that it had ''become a disease'' that disrupting members did not allow even the Speaker to speak.

The Rajya Sabha was, however, adjourned on a quieter note with Chairman Hamid Ansari making a terse one-sentence comment that he was left with no other option but to bring the curtains down on the session.

While the Upper House was adjourned sine die at 1620 hrs, an announcement to the similar effect was made in the Lower House at 1711 hrs.

A determined opposition, insistent on disrupting the proceedings in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, continued to flex its muscle on the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to look into the implications of the nuclear deal.

Parliament was witness to the pandemonious scenes leading to repeated adjournments for five consecutive days with the opposition feeling jilted over the creation of a panel comprising members of the UPA and the Left parties. A JPC would involve all political parties on an issue pertaining to a critical dimension of national security.

The government, however, was unrelenting, leading to a logjam in Parliament.

UNI