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Friday, Jul 23, 2004

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Pandemonium in Parliament over Shibu Soren issue

By Our New Delhi Bureau

NEW DELHI, JULY 22. Acrimony reigned supreme in both the Houses of Parliament today with the Opposition determined to stall proceedings till the Government made a statement on the whereabouts of the Coal Minister, Shibu Soren, against whom an arrest warrant has been issued, and took Parliament into confidence on how it proposed to address the "unprecedented" development.

The trouble started during question hour itself, immediately after the Houses convened. In the Lok Sabha, the Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, first refused to give in and took up question hour for about 30 minutes amid unrelenting slogan-shouting by the BJP and Shiv Sena members. However, after the Bihar MPs from the ruling benches got into an altercation with the Opposition, which had laid siege of the well for the entire sitting, Mr. Chatterjee adjourned the House for 15 minutes at 11.45 a.m. The House met again at noon, only to be adjourned within seconds as members from both sides almost came face-to-face in the well. The exchange of words, particularly between the Shiv Sena and the Rashtriya Janata Dal members, became so heated that senior members had to rush in and pull them apart.

Rehman elected

In the Rajya Sabha, the situation was no different. The uproar was triggered when Opposition members wanted to know why the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, whose question day it was, had not come to the House, and the Chairman, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, adjourned the House till noon, when there was a brief truce to allow the election of the Deputy Chairman, K. Rehman Khan. But as Dr. Singh, who was present for the election, left the House immediately afterwards, the Opposition once again rush to the well shouting slogans.

Amid the pandemonium, the Chairman asked members, who had "special mentions" listed against their names, to table them and the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Suresh Pachouri, laid the papers on being told to do so by the Chair. Mr. Shekhawat then adjourned the house till lunch. It met again briefly only to be adjourned for the day as the commotion continued.

Disgraceful, says Advani

In the Lok Sabha, too, the Opposition kept its guns trained on the Government over the Shibu Soren issue. In the post-lunch session, the Speaker allowed the Leader of the Opposition, L.K. Advani, to make a statement. Stating that it was "disgraceful" that the Government had not dropped a Minister who was "absconding," Mr. Advani urged the Chair to ask the Prime Minister to make a statement and requested Mr. Chatterjee to adjourn the House till then.

In response, Mr. Chatterjee said the Chair could not compel any Minister or the Prime Minister to make a statement. However, he added: "In deference to the personal request made by the Leader of the Opposition, I am adjourning the House till tomorrow."

As members trooped out, some persisted with their slogan-shouting though it was a faint echo of the chorus of protest heard earlier against the Government, the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

That the Opposition would force an adjournment in both the Houses was known in the morning itself before Parliament convened for the day.

At a meeting of all the National Democratic Alliance MPs, it was decided that the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies would stall proceedings on the issue of the "missing" Minister (Mr. Soren).

`Sack Soren'

The former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, told the NDA MPs that the Government was "not fulfilling its responsibilities," while Mr. Advani said he had "never seen such a situation," the Deputy Leader of the BJP, V.K. Malhotra, later told reporters. Mr. Malhotra virtually charged the Prime Minister with "protecting" a man wanted by the police and demanded that the "tainted" Mr. Soren be sacked immediately.

Tomorrow morning, the NDA MPs will meet again and the indication is that they will continue to raise the Soren issue in both the Houses, and possibly force an adjournment.

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