Parliament paralysed over MPs' remarks

Mani Shankar Aiyar (Congress) in the Rajya Sabha and Sudip Bandyopadhyay (Trinamool Congress) stirred a hornet's nest by their remarks which the opposition found were objectionable.

The turmoil continued despite Speaker Meira Kumar strongly reprimanding Bandyopadhyay in Lok Sabha. Bandyopadhyay is in the eye of a storm for his remarks against a CPI-M member from West Bengal in the backdrop of the motormen's strike in Mumbai.

"Those words and the manner in which they were said were quite unbecoming of a member of the House. I disapprove of such conduct. I hope no member will again give an occasion for the Chair to make such an observation," Kumar said.

In the Rajya Sabha, Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan told Aiyar, "If a member is hurt by anybody there is nothing wrong in saying sorry."

Aiyar had targetted leader of the opposition Arun Jaitely in the Rajya Sabha two days back and the storm has not yet subsided with the BJP adamant on an apology from the member whose maiden speech has created the controversy. Both Aiyar and Bandyopadhyay were present in the respective Houses but gave no signs to make amends.

Soon after Lok Sabha met for the day, the Speaker made her observations reprimanding Bandyopadhyay. The House was adjourned as AIADMK members stormed the well on the issue of 2G spectrum allocation.

As Lok Sabha reassembled at noon, Left members stormed the well demanding unconditional apology from Bandyopadhyay, who was smiling.

The Left members raised slogans like "shame on Parliament, we want unconditional apology".

The Aiyar issue created uproar in the Upper House since it assembled for the day and led to two adjournments. As the BJP members insisted on an apology from Aiyar during Question Hour, Chiarman Hamid Ansari told the House, "Parliamentary Affairs Minister has been apprised of the issue. Some work is in progress on it and a decision will be taken during the course of the day," he said.

During Zero Hour, BJP leader M Venkiah Naidu remarked, "We could have settled the issue outside the House but the incident has taken place in the House." This angered ruling party members who wondered whether this is a threat.

Aiyar, who had by then arrived in the House, however, kept mum and the Chair had to finally adjourn the House in the Zero Hour as slogan-shouting BJP members stormed the well.

In the Lok Sabha, Congress members, especially from Gujarat, waved placards which read that "Gujarat Chief Minister should stop insulting the Supreme Court."
The issue they were raising was drowned in the din over demand for apology from Bandyopadhyay.

Eaerlier, Rajya Sabha was adjourned for 20 minutes after BJP members raised an uproar over alleged misuse of CBI against Gujarat police.

The problem started when Home Minister P Chidambaram was replying to supplementaries related to a question on fake encounters by Delhi Police.