Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Tuesday, amid uproar over BJP’s demand that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi apologise for his “democracy in danger” remark in London. The Upper House of Parliament will meet again on March 23.
When Rajya Sabha reassembled at 2 pm after an adjournment, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar led the House in greeting the country for various festivals, including Chaitra Sukhladi, Gudi Padwa, Ugadi, Cheti Chand, Navre and Sajibu Cheiraoba.
He also said on the request of several members to enable them to participate in the festivities, the House will not have a sitting on Wednesday and instead it would meet on March 23.
Dhankhar then tried to take up the listed business of discussion on the working of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship amid protests from Opposition members. He then gave the floor to Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge.
When Kharge stood up and said that “Rahul Gandhi is not a member of this House and there is no question of him apologising (in this House)…”, ruling party members shouted slogans demanding Gandhi’s apology for his remark in London.
Opposition members too were on their feet after Chairman Dhankhar rejected 11 notices under Rule 267 to suspend the schedule business of the day and take up matters related to the Adani issue.
Before adjourning the proceedings till 2 pm, the chairman asked floor leaders of various political leaders to meet him in his chamber at 11.30 am.
Opposition party members who had given notices under Rule 267 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) were: Amee Yajnik, Pramod Tiwari, Tiruchi Siva, Kumar Ketkar, Neeraj Dangi, Rajneet Ranjan, Jebi Mather Hisham, Syed Nasir Hussain, Elamaram Kareem, Sanjay Singh and Sandosh Kumar P.
Through the notices, some of the opposition MPs had demanded to discuss the government’s failure to constitute a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the charges of corporate fraud, political corruption, stock market manipulation and financial mismanagement against Adani group
