Congress leaders protests Lok Sabha adjournment for the day, target BJP

The Congress party on Friday took to protest alleging that the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day after hearing the views of the ruling party only. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged that the treasury benches in the Lok Sabha did not respond to their questions, instead fired allegations against his party.

"Union Minister Smriti Irani was hell-bent upon extracting an apology from two of our members, who also participated in the debate when treasury benches were hurling allegations against us and trying to dilute the concern raised by us," Chowdhury told the media on Friday. "The Speaker had issued a ruling. What was unprecedented to me was that the chair overruled the ruling made by the Speaker," he added.

"Members were prepared for introducing various important bills in the lower house but all ended in smoke because the House got adjourned by hearing the views of the ruling party members only. Even I was not allowed to express our views," said the Congress leader.

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Chowdhury disapproved of the allegations of humiliating Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani. He said that when they were assembling to participate in another issue, they realised that treasury benches were preparing to stall the house on the excuse that during the exchange of views in the house, the Union Minister had been targeted.

"The Speaker was inside the House and all documents are available. It was to dilute the concerns raised by us, as all debates take place in the full glare of media," he added. "We demanded that the Home Ministry or any Cabinet Minister should respond and address our grievances. But the treasury benches resorted to leveling allegations against us and suppress the voice of the opposition. As a result, the House was adjourned," said Chowdhury.

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Heated debate in Lok Sabha

Irani on Friday engaged in a heated debate over women's rights in the Lok Sabha where she urged all politicians to "stop communalizing and politicizing women issues." Lodging a very specific attack on a West Bengal MP, who she did not want to call out in the parliament, she said that "a member used Telengana and Unnao incidents but selectively forgot Malda. Rape has been used as a political weapon in West Bengal." This caused a massive uproar in the Lok Sabha after which the minister lodged further allegations against the opposition parties.

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(With ANI inputs)