HD Deve Gowda breaks ranks with oppn over Rajya Sabha ruckus; takes dig at Rahul Gandhi

Breaking ranks with the opposition, former PM HD Deve Gowda rued the fact that negligible business could take place in the recently concluded Monsoon session of Parliament. Addressing a press conference on Sunday, the JD(S) leader asserted, "I was not allowed to speak during the monsoon session due to the ruckus by members of the ruling and opposition parties. No business took place and the session was wasted".

Reacting to the Rajya Sabha ruckus, Deve Gowda remarked, "I am disgusted with the behaviour of the ruling party, as well as the members of the opposition...People danced on the table in the well the house. In my 30 years as a parliamentarian, I have never witnessed any incident like this". Frowning upon ex-Congress president Rahul Gandhi's cycle rally, he urged the Wayanad MP to "walk the extra mile" to hone his political skills.

Adjourned on August 11- two days ahead of schedule, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha recorded a productivity of 21% and 28% respectively. The Monsoon session was marked by sloganeering, leaders rushing to the Well of the House with placards, tearing of papers, and repeated adjournments over the opposition's demand for a discussion on the Pegasus 'snooping' row. Interestingly, the former Prime Minister's stance comes after his grandson and Lok Sabha MP Prajwal Revanna participated in a meeting of opposition leaders convened by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on August 20. 

Pandemonium in Parliament

The opposition blamed the stubborn attitude of the treasury benches for the logjam, insisting on discussing the Pegasus 'snooping' row followed by the farm laws and inflation. Rajya Sabha in particular saw chaotic scenes with 7 TMC MPs- Santanu Sen, Dola Sen, Md. Nadimul Haque, Abir Ranjan Biswas, Shanta Chhetri, Arpita Ghosh and Mausam Noor being suspended during the course of the Session. The situation escalated on August 11 and marshals had to be summoned to control the chaos in the Upper House.

As per the videos accessed by Republic TV, the marshals are seen keeping the parliamentarians at bay while some of them attempted to push their way through towards the Chair. At about 6.22 pm, TMC MP Dola Sen is seen pushing and obstructing the way of Leader of House Piyush Goyal and Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi. This was followed by Congress members Chhaya Verma and Phulo Devi Netam pushing and trying to bang the head of a lady marshal at 6.31 pm. Other MPs can be witnessed raising slogans, throwing papers, climbing on benches and manhandling the marshals. 

On August 15, 7 Union Ministers met Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu and demanded action against opposition MPs who indulged in the ruckus. Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Dharmendra Pradhan, Bhupender Yadav, Arjun Ram Meghwal and V Muraleedharan handed over a memorandum to the Vice President in this regard. Naidu assured them that he will look into the issue and take an appropriate decision. 

(With PTI inputs)