<p>Following Thursday’s unprecedented ‘pepper spray’ incident, there were demands for curtailing privileges of parliamentarians and frisking them before being allowed to step inside their respective Houses.<br /><br /></p>.<p>“Today it is pepper spray, tomorrow it could be some toxic or poisonous gas and put members’ lives at risk,” a senior Parliament secretariat official said minutes after the Lok Sabha was adjourned after a member from Rayalaseema sprayed pepper spray inside the House.<br /><br />Several MPs Deccan Herald spoke to favoured frisking of parliamentarians before they enter the House.<br /><br />“The MPs today represent a cross-section of the society. These are not the good old days when members maintained decorum. You also have some members with a criminal background,” a Congress member said asking not to be named.<br /><br />Members are free to move around the Parliament premises without being frisked. Some are even known to make it a big issue if an unsuspecting member of the Parliament staff fails to recognise a member and asks him to pass through a door-frame metal detector.<br /><br />“We cannot have anyone terrorise the House. Such an incident cannot be tolerated. These members should not be allowed to set a precedent,” Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily said.</p>
<p>Following Thursday’s unprecedented ‘pepper spray’ incident, there were demands for curtailing privileges of parliamentarians and frisking them before being allowed to step inside their respective Houses.<br /><br /></p>.<p>“Today it is pepper spray, tomorrow it could be some toxic or poisonous gas and put members’ lives at risk,” a senior Parliament secretariat official said minutes after the Lok Sabha was adjourned after a member from Rayalaseema sprayed pepper spray inside the House.<br /><br />Several MPs Deccan Herald spoke to favoured frisking of parliamentarians before they enter the House.<br /><br />“The MPs today represent a cross-section of the society. These are not the good old days when members maintained decorum. You also have some members with a criminal background,” a Congress member said asking not to be named.<br /><br />Members are free to move around the Parliament premises without being frisked. Some are even known to make it a big issue if an unsuspecting member of the Parliament staff fails to recognise a member and asks him to pass through a door-frame metal detector.<br /><br />“We cannot have anyone terrorise the House. Such an incident cannot be tolerated. These members should not be allowed to set a precedent,” Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily said.</p>
