SP protests Breach of Privilege notice, RS adjourned

New Delhi, Mar 5 (UNI) Noisy scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha today as members of the Samajwadi Party caused uproar over a Breach of Privilege notice on frequent disruptions of Parliament, forcing adjournment of the House twice during Question Hour, the second time till 1200 hours.

As soon as the House assembled for Question Hour, the SP members were up on their feet protesting against the Breach of Privilege notice to chairman Hamid Ansari by Mr Santosh Bagrodia (Cong), Mr Manohar Joshi (Shiv Sena), Ms Supriya Sule (NCP) and some other MPs.

They said frequent disruption of Parliament by some members was an infringement on their fundamental rights of raising matters of public importance in the House.

The members, led by party general secretary Amar Singh, alleged that the notice was targetted at their party. Shouting, ''It is a murder of democracy,'' the SP members entered the well of the House.

The slogan shouting continued for several minutes and did not allow the proceedings in the Question Hour to take place. Amid the bedlam, the Chairman adjourned the House initially till 1130 hours.

Even after the House re-assembled, the noisy scenes by SP members continued, forcing the Chair to adjourn the House till 1200 hours.

The Breach of Privilege notice submitted by the MPs to the Chairman a few days ago, has been referred to the Privileges Committee.

UNI AR Mir KP1222