Parliament session washed out

The first week of the extended winter session of Parliament was completely washed out, with a row over a separate Telangana state and harassment of Tamil fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy rocking the House for the third day on Friday.

Three members of parliament in the Lok Sabha, including one from the ruling Congress, gave notices of no-confidence motion against the government.

As soon as the Lok Sabha met for the day, members from Andhra Pradesh, cutting across party lines, began shouting slogans for and against the creation of Telangana. The notices for the no-confidence motion, given by G V Harsha Kumar of the Congress, could not be taken up as Speaker Meira Kumar's repeated pleas to the agitated members went unheeded.

She said since the House was not in order as she could not ascertain whether the notices had the support of the requisite 50 parliamentarians. 

Two other members to give the notice were M Venugopala Reddy (TDP) and M Raja Mohan Reddy (YSR Congress). As the din continued, Kumar adjourned the House for the day in the afternoon. 

In the Rajya Sabha, an exasperated Chairman Hamid Ansari remarked: “For several days now, we have been in a situation where we are being forced to witness deviations of decorum of the House when members rush to the Well.”

The House was adjourned twice before lunch and then for the day a little after 2:30 pm.