| Nuke Deal: Opposition rejects panel, wants JPC |
| BS Reporter / New Delhi September 5, 2007 |
| New political alignments were there for all to see as an aggressive opposition repeatedly disturbed both houses of Parliament over the constitution of the panel to study the impact of the Hyde Act on the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee was forced to adjourn the house twice in the morning, and had to finally adjourn the house for the day amid slogan shouting by opposition members demanding a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on the nuclear issue. As proceedings began in the morning and anticipating the mood, Chatterjee made a personal appeal to the opposition to allow the house to function. "I only hope that at least today, on Teacher's Day, you will listen to the headmaster," he said. This, however, went unheard as the opposition resorted to shouting and sloganeering demanding the constitution of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on the Indo-US nuclear agreement. After being adjourned once, Lok Sabha met again at 11:30 to a repeat of the same scene. Prabhunath Singh of JD(U) asked the Speaker to act on his adjournment motion. The opposition did not allow the Question Hour to be held. After repeated requests to agitated members, Chatterjee adjourned the house again till 3 pm. In the Rajya Sabha, it was the ADMK that was the focus of attention as the House was disrupted and adjourned repeatedly. However, the politics of the nuclear deal was evident as slogans were shouted in Tamil and Telugu in support of a JPC to investigate the deal - probably to differentiate the Third Front from the BJP. Slogans were also shouted against the Communists (Congress-Communist ki kaisi ladai/chor chor mousere bhai) (the fight between the Congress and the communists is just a show). N Jothi of the ADMK was seen remonstrating with the Left parties asking them to join their campaign against the agreement. The Left parties did not join the protests, and the Samajwadi Party also stayed aloof. It was the ADMK that was on the offensive and in between shouting slogans, some members even squatted on the floor of the House demanding a JPC. The BJP members repeatedly shouted: |
