Cong, govt flouted rules while bringing T-bill: Left

Left parties today condemned the unruly incidents in Lok Sabha and lashed out at ruling Congress and the UPA government for flouting rules while bringing the Telangana bill before the House.
"While today's incident in Lok Sabha is condemnable, those who did it (using pepper spray and breaking mikes) are not the only ones to be blamed.
"Congress and the government, which apprehended such incidents, did not take appropriate and timely action. This was deliberately done. It shows Congress does not want the House to function smoothly," CPI(M) Lok Sabha leader Basudeb Acharia told PTI.
He also attacked Congress and the government for holding talks "only with BJP and not taking into confidence the floor leaders of any other party" on bringing the controversial measure.

Maintaining that such an incident has never happened in the past, the nine-time MP said, "According to us, the Telangana bill has not been introduced.
"The matter was not listed in the agenda, but in a supplementary list that was not circulated. The circulation of the list of business allows members to give notices opposing a legislation or its introduction. That opportunity was not given. It is a clear violation of the rules of the House."

Acharia also said that while Speaker Meira Kumar announced the introduction of the bill, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde "did not say 'I introduce the bill' which has to be said mandatorily".

His CPI(M) colleague Sitaram Yechury said he had warned Congress and the government at the pre-session all-party meeting "to put their own house in order by settling the problem, so that this House (Parliament) functions....But they did not pay heed to the warning and the country is paying the price today".
On BJP's claim that the bills to create Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand were passed in an orderly and peaceful manner, he said it should be recollected that the bills to create these states "were passed by a voice vote in the din. They had refused a division in the House (for voting) on the ground that there was disorder in the House".