Winter session: LS, RS adjourned

New Delhi, Nov 15: The Lok Sabha was adjourned on the opening day of the winter session today after paying obituaries to sitting member Vijaykumar Khandelwal and four former members, including legal luminary L M Sinhhvi.

Earlier, Mr Francisco Sardinha, who recently won the Mormugao byelection from Goa on the Congress ticket, took oath as member of the House.

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In his obituary reference, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee described Khandelwal as a well-known social worker who played a proactive role in the campaigns for the protection of environment and for the betterment of the health and educational facilities for the tribals.

Khandelwal, who represented Betul, Madhya Pradesh, as a BJP member, died on November 13 in Nagpur at the age of 71 after a brief illness. He also represented the 11th, 12th and 13th Lok Sabha.

Mr Chatterjee described Singhvi, a member of the 3rd Lok Sabha, as a legal luminary and a well konwn exponent of human rights who was associated with the framing of constitutions of several countries of Asia and Africa. He had also been a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1998 to 2005 and High Commissioner to the UK from 1991 to 1997. He died on October 6 at New Delhi at the age of 76.

Others who were paid obituaries were Manjay Lal who represented Samastipur, Bihar, in the 13 Lok Sabha, Yashwant Borole from Jalgaon, Maharashtra, 6th Lok Sabha and Lal Ram Ken from Bayana, Rajasthan, 8th Lok Sabha.

The House then stood in silence for a short while to pay respect to the departed souls.

Rajya Sabha: The upper house was adjourned after paying tribute to sitting member Jana Krishnamurthy K and former members L M Singhvi, S R Bommai and Jagdish Prasda Mathur who passed away during the intersession.

As soon as the House assembled for the day, Chairman Hamid Ansari introduced the new Secretary General Vivek Kumar Agnihotri, and then read out the obituary references.

He said Krishnamurty, the former BJP president, who represented Gujarat in the House, was a very able Parliamentarian and a dedicated social and political worker, and the House had suffered a great loss in his death.He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2002. He had also served as Union Minister for Law and Justice.

S R Bommai, the former Karnataka Chief Minister and Jajanat Dal president, who represented Orissa and Karnataka in the House, was described as an able Parliamentarian and an able administrator. He had served as Union Minister for HRD and was Chairman of department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology and Environment.

The Chairman described J P Mathur, who represented Uttar Pradesh in the House as a distinguished social worker and an able parliamentarian. He was one of the founder members of the BJP and was deputy leader and whip of the party in the House.

Anasri said the Secretary General would convey the deep sorrow of the House over the loss of the eminent members to their families.

He thereafter announced that the House was being adjourned till 1100 hrs tomorrow.

UNI