Parliament rocked by T issue as Cong, BJP, TRS MPs join hands

The contentious issue of a separate Telangana State demand rocked Parliament on Thursday, forcing the Chair of both Houses to repeatedly adjourn proceedings following a din by Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

The din started almost as soon as the Lok Sabha assembled for the day with TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao and his party colleague Vijayashanti rushing to the Well of the House and raising ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans.

The slogans were echoed by the Congress MPs from Telangana and the BJP MPs.

The slogan shouting prompted the Telugu Desam Party MPs to brandish placards supporting an integrated Andhra Pradesh.

The slogan-shouting Congress MPs noticed the placards and went across to the TDP MPs, snatching them away. This triggered off more slogan shouting, prompting Speaker Meira Kumar to request the Members to calm down and allow the Question Hour to be taken up.

However, her words had little effect and the din continued. The Speaker then adjourned the House.

However, the break seemingly did not have the desired effect since the slogan shouting restarted as soon as the House reassembled. Ms Meira Kumar repeatedly pleaded with the agitated

members to allow discussions on the Railway Budget to be taken up, but to no avail, forcing her to announce another half-hour adjournment.

The situation was no different the third time the House reassembled, prompting the Speaker to to say that the MPs would be given time to speak on the issue, albeit briefly. KCR and Vijayashanti however did not accept the Speaker’s offer, even as the slogan shouting by Congress MPs continued.

The Telangana Congress MPs also did not allow their party colleagues from Andhra Pradesh to speak, shouting them down. Efforts by Sharad Yadav to quieten down the T Congress Members too failed, forcing the Speaker to announce yet another adjournment, this time till 2 PM.

This time around, the top BJP leadership, including LK Advani and Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj too got to their feet and attempted to put the UPA government in the dock for its indecisiveness on the issue.

Ms Swaraj demanded that that separate statehood Bill must be tabled, ‘since the time for discussion has passed.’ She said, “The government should act. Why the drama? We want the Bill and not tamasha.”

Her words sparked off another round of din, forcing Ms Meira Kumar to announce another adjournment.

Meanwhile, similar scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha which was rocked by the vociferous BJP Members, demanding that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reveal the status of the separate statehood issue.

The BJP Members forced the Upper House to be adjourned twice.