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Parliament disrupted for fifth day, Congress sacks six MPs

The scenes in both houses Tuesday were no different from the time parliament convened Feb 5 for one last time before the country heads for general elections

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IANS New Delhi
Last Updated : Feb 11 2014 | 4:28 PM IST

Parliament was disrupted for the fifth straight day Tuesday, mainly over Telangana, forcing the adjournment of both houses for the day.

The Congress, embarrassed by the rebellion by a section of its MPs, expelled six party members in the Lok Sabha who have been noisily protesting against the formation of Telangana.

Congress sources identified them as Sabbam Hari, G.V. Harsha Kumar, V. Arun Kumar, L. Rajagopal, R. Sambasiva Rao and A. Sai Pratap. All six have been staging vocal protests that have crippled the Lok Sabha.

The scenes in both houses Tuesday were no different from the time parliament convened Feb 5 for one last time before the country heads for general elections.

The Lok Sabha was first adjourned soon after it met at 11 a.m. When it convened again at noon, members for and against Telangana took the lead to create disturbances.

Amid continuing pandemonium, Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the house until Wednesday after laying papers and also introducing a bill to acquire land in Mumbai for the Bhimrao Ambedkar Memorial.

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Meira Kumar allowed Congress member Thokchom Meinya to raise the issue of attacks on northeastern people, including in Delhi. But not much could be heard -- before the house was adjourned.

In the Rajya Sabha too, tempers ran high as members disrupted the proceedings and tore papers and threw them near the chairman's podium.

The upper house has been witnessing protests over the proposed formation of Telangana and the attacks by the Sri Lankan Navy on fishermen from Tamil Nadu.

Within minutes after it met at 11, Chairman M. Hamid Ansari adjourned it for 10 minutes and then till noon.

As the house met again, Telugu Desam Party members C.M. Ramesh and Y.S. Choudhary went towards the chairman raising slogans of "Save Telangana".

Congress member K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao flashed a placard demanding a united Andhra Pradesh.

Pro-Telangana members also stood on their chairs shouting slogans.

Members from the DMK and AIADMK pressed for raising the issue of attacks on Tamil fishermen.

AIADMK leader V. Maitreyan tore to bits official papers of the Rajya Sabha that carried the names of members disrupting the house.

Ramachandra Rao, Y.S. Chowdhary, C.M. Ramesh and Maitreyan along with AIADMK's A.W. Rabi Bernard, K.R. Arjunan and R. Lakshmanan and DMK leaders Kanimozhi, T.M. Selvaganapathi and S. Thangavelu were mentioned in the bulletin for disrupting the house.

In the din, two bills, the HIV AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill 2014 and the Constitutional (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill 2014, were introduced.

The house was then adjourned till 2 p.m.

When the house met again, efforts were made to introduce the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2012. But protesting members did not allow the house to function.

A frustrated Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien then adjourned the house until Wednesday.

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First Published: Feb 11 2014 | 3:52 PM IST

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