RS adjourned side die amid drama over Women's Reservation Bill

New Delhi, May 6 (UNI) The Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die today amid high drama over the ''back door'' introduction of the Women's Reservation Bill.

With this, the Budget Session 2008 of Parliament came to an end.

Lok Sabha had been adjourned sine die yesterday.

As the House reassembled at 1400 hrs after the earlier adjournment, Mr Sharad Yadav (JD-U) was on his feet protesting against the ''back door'' introduction of the Bill.

Chairman Hamid Ansari disallowed him to speak saying the time for discussion on the subject had elapsed and the member had lost his chance to speak.

Mr Yadav was joined by SP members led by Mr Amar Singh who also protested against the hush-hush manner in which the Bill had been introduced.

He urged the Chairman to allow him to speak, saying he (the Chairman) he was being denied his right to speak in a democracy.

The JD(U) leader said that under rules, the members should have been informed about the introduction of the Bill 48 hours in advance which was not done.

However, the Chairman did not listen to the repeated arguments and urged the members to let the business proceed.

The drama continued for eight minutes and the Chairman's repeated pleas to allow the proceedings to continue were not heeded.

He said today was the last day of the Budget session and the members should allow the proceedings smoothly.

''The 213th session which commenced on 25th February, 2008,...'' the Chairman said, not being able to complete the sentence amid the noise.

He later called for the National Song to be played and adjourned the House sine die.

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