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Tuesday, Apr 26, 2005

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National

Opposition wants Lalu to go

New Delhi Bureau

Proceedings in both Houses disrupted several times

RALLYING BEHIND THEIR LEADER: RJD MPs staging a demonstration outside Parliament on Monday demanding the arrest of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, in connection with the alleged attack on the Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad, when he visited the State last week. — Photo: V. Sudershan

NEW DELHI: Proceedings in both Houses of Parliament were disrupted several times on Monday with the Opposition demanding the resignation of the charge-sheeted Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad, and members of the ruling coalition retaliating by pressing for the dismissal of the Gujarat Government for its alleged complicity in the attack on him last week during a visit to the site of a railway accident near Vadodra.

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned four times and the Lok Sabha twice as both sides attacked each other. The issue also saw the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) staging a walkout in the Lok Sabha after Mr. Lalu Prasad presented his statement on the accident, while in the Rajya Sabha some Opposition members tore a copy of his speech — read out by the Minister of State, Naranbhai J. Rathwa.

Amid persistent sloganeering by the Opposition, Mr. Lalu Prasad read out his statement, highlighting the ``attack'' on him by ``some members of the Bajrang Dal, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).'' A page of his three-page suo motu statement was about the attack.

`Complete lawlessness'

Besides detailing the ``attack'' on the Railway team including the Railway Board Chairman, the Minister said, the Bajrang Dal, the RSS and the VHP workers interfered with the inspection of the site in the presence of some Ministers of the Gujarat Government. Also, ``district authorities did not provide adequate security arrangements and they were mute spectators. There was complete lawlessness on the whole.''

For the Opposition, the framing of charges against the Railway Minister in a Ranchi court came as ready ammunition even as the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) continued with its demand for the dismissal of the Gujarat Government for the attack on Mr. Lalu Prasad. In both Houses, the issue came up soon after proceedings began.

Claims, counter-claims

While both sides began their tirade against each other simultaneously in the Lok Sabha, the RJD raked up the attack on Mr. Prasad in the Rajya Sabha and was immediately countered by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members. With the Lok Sabha Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, refusing to adjourn the House and stating that the issue could be debated in the afternoon when Mr. Prasad was due to make the statement, the two sides relented half way into question hour only to raise it once again afterwards leading to two successive adjournments.

In the Rajya Sabha, the Chairman, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, adjourned the House for 15 minutes after it assembled to allow tempers to cool as the RJD was joined by the Congress in slogan-shouting. The situation remained the same after the House re-assembled, leading to the Deputy Chairman, K. Rehman Khan, who was in the Chair, to adjourn the House till 2 p.m. after the official business was transacted in the din. While the scheduled business was taken up in the post-lunch session in the Lok Sabha despite an early interruption and the NDA walk-out, the Rajya Sabha continued to be disrupted by a determined Opposition; resulting in two more adjournments after Mr. Rathwa read out the statement.

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