LS fails to pass promotion quota bill
The Lok Sabha on Thursday failed to pass a contentious bill that seeks to provide reservation to schedule caste and schedule tribe in government job promotions as both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajawadi Party (SP) created pandemonium forcing repeated adjournment of the Lower House.
The BJP, which supported the legislation in the Rajya Sabha four days back, stalled its passage in the Lok Sabha, claiming that it was not the original bill and certain amendments had been made in it.
The main Opposition members were also agitated because soon after the bill was introduced in the House, Congress member P L Punia started speaking on the subject and senior BJP leader L K Advani was not allowed to speak.
“Pratipaksh Ka Aisa Apmaan, Nahi Chalega (such an insult of the opposition will not be tolerated)“, the angry BJP members shouted later storming the Well. Advani was visibly upset and was seen conveying his angst to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and Science and Technology Minister Jaipal Reddy when they came to talk to him.
Meanwhile, SP members continued protesting against the legislation even as Yashvir Singh of the party expressed regret for his conduct a day after he snatched copy of the bill from Minister of State Narayansamy leading to a scuffle like situation between Congress and SP members in the Lower House.
Amid pandemonium, Congress members came into the aisle shouting slogans in support of the bill. Both the BJP and the SP stalled the proceeding of the House and forced its repeated adjournments till the Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the House sine die at 5.30. She said that she tried her best to see the bill through but to no avail. The Rajay Sabha, meanwhile, was also adjourned sine die.
BSP chief Mayawati, who along with her few part MPs from the Rajya Sabha, watched the Lok Sabha proceedings from the gallery, later blamed the UPA government for the non-passage of the bill, saying since the beginning she had doubts over the Centre's sincerity on the issue.
She accused the government of staging a "drama" over the bill in the Lok Sabha for the last two days. "When the copy of the bill was snatched on Wednesday, they should have suspended Samajwadi Party MPs, brought the House in order, used marshals but they did not do so," she pointed out.
