Lok Sabha adjourned amid continuing protests by TRS, AIADMK

New Delhi, March 23

The Lok Sabha proceedings were disrupted yet again on Friday due to noisy protests by the AIADMK and TRS members, following which Speaker Sumitra Mahajan expressed her inability to take up the notices for no-confidence motion and adjourned the proceedings for the day.

The Speaker also announced a holiday for members on Monday on account of Ramnavmi on Sunday as many of them had conveyed they would be busy in various events on the festival and would find it difficult to join the House the next day.

The House was adjourned till noon soon after it met at 11 am following noisy protests by members of the AIADMK and the TRS over Cauvery dispute and quota issue, respectively.

As the House reassembled at noon, the protests continued and Mahajan said she could not take up the notices for no- confidence motions moved by the TDP and YSR Congress as the House is not in order and the requisite head-count of members supporting the notices could be done only if they are in their seats.

At least 50 members need to support a no-confidence notice for the House to accept it and start a debate.

The Speaker said the government had expressed its readiness for a discussion on it.

The BJP-led NDA government enjoys a comfortable majority in the House.

The Lok Sabha was then adjourned for the day as protests continued.

This is the 15th straight day that the lower house was adjourned without undertaking any significant business.

As soon as the House met for the day, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan paid tributes to freedom fighters--Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev--who were hanged on March 23, 1931 by the British. The House observed silence as a mark of respect to the martyrs.

Before taking up Question Hour, the Speaker appealed to members to maintain order but members from the AIADMK and TRS trooped into the Well holding placards and raising slogans.

While the AIADMK is pressing for immediate setting up of the Cauvery river management board, the TRS is demanding that the states be given the right to determine the proportion of reservations. Some members were heard shouting ‘we want justice’.

Congress members, too, were on their feet protesting against the Supreme Court verdict on the SC/ST Act. The Congress has been demanding that the Centre seek a review of the court order which diluted provisions related to immediate arrest in cases related to atrocities on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Expelled RJD member Pappu Yadav was seen holding two placards demanding special status for Bihar.

Amid the din, Mahajan tried to proceed with Question Hour, but adjourned the House within minutes as the protests continued.

The House has been witnessing disruptions every day since March 5 over issues like PNB scam, special status to Andhra Pradesh and Cauvery water dispute after it re-assembled to continue the Budget session. PTI