Speaker pulls up Sharad Yadav

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who is usually polite while managing the house, Friday got up from her seat and pulled up Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav for responding angrily to her directive.

"It's about the authority of the chair... members should go by the rules and not get angry with the speaker," Meira Kumar told him.

Speaking during a debate on the issue of violence in Assam and the exodus of people from the northeast from various places, Sharad Yadav was asked by the speaker to end his speech.

Instead, he angrily retorted that if she so wanted, he would sit down.

This irked the speaker, who pulled him up.

Later, when some MPs tried to disrupt Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who wanted to intervene in the debate, Meira Kumar firmly told them it was her decision.

"It's my discretion... I allowed the intervention... please allow me to conduct the house," she said.

When Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad remarked that she was very angry, Meira Kumar replied with a smile: "I am not angry, Laluji."