Today's incidents in Rajya Sabha pained me: Deve Gowda

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, who took oath as Rajya Sabha member on Sunday, said that he is pained the about the incidents that happened in the Upper House of Parliament during the passing of farm bills.

"I am pained today about the incidents in Rajya Sabha. It should not have happened," he said.

"Nothing was heard during the passing of bills. We can only hear members shouting," Gowda told reporters in Delhi.

High drama was witnessed in Rajya Sabha during the passage of Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill as opposition members were indulged in shouting slogans, breaking a couple of microphones of the Chairman and throwing papers.

However, the Vokkaliga leader blamed the government for the incidents. "The government should have allowed voting of the bills and it would have been defeated," he said.

Earlier, speaking on the legislation in Upper House, Gowda said: "The government goes ahead with the bills, the small and marginal farmers may not be in a position to deal with complex contracts that they may have to enter into with private players, and big corporations."

"The Prime Minister has said that these bills will eliminate middlemen. On the contrary, I feel these bills will increase middlemen because farmers will need intermediaries of a different kind to read the fine print of documents that private players and corporations may put forward," he said.