High drama in Rajya Sabha: Telangana Bill not taken up in RS; Secy Gen heckled by TDP MP

New Delhi: High drama was witnessed in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday with Secretary General Shumsher K. Sheriff being heckled by a TDP member who was trying to snatch papers from him related to Telangana bill.

The much anticipated bill was not taken up in the upper house of the Parliament, which witnessed repeated adjournments all through the day on Wednesday. However, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla said, "We will place the Telangana Bill in Rajya Sabha tomorrow."

C.M. Ramesh (TDP) and his party colleague Y.S. Chowdhary, opposing the Telangana bill, stormed the Well as soon as the House met at noon after one adjournment over the Telangana issue.

As soon as Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien asked the Secretary General to read the message from Lok Sabha, which obviously included a mention about passage of the bill to carve out a separate Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, Ramesh tried to reach out to the papers.

There was heckling and even the spectacles of Sheriff were about to fall as Ramesh tried to forcibly take the papers.

Security staff of Parliament rushed to the aid of the Secretary General as Ramesh kept shouting against the passage of the Telangana bill in Lok Sabha and maintaining that it was done in an unconstitutional manner.

Pro-United Andhra Pradesh members protest in the Rajya Sabha in New Delhi on Wednesday - PTI/TV grab

Angry at the behaviour of the member, Kurien said, "This is very unfortunate. The Chair should not be attacked. Keep your hands off. What you are doing is very unfortunate."

Immediately, the House was adjourned till 2 PM.

When the House reassembled, Kurien referred to the issue and said the behaviour of Ramesh was 'highly deplorable and unbecoming of the member'. He said it amounted to breach of privilege of the House.

Ramesh then rose to say his action was not intentional but only emotional and later apologised.

"I regret this and am feeling sorry....I apologise for this incident," he said.

After this, Kurien said he was proposing to take action which he has now decided to drop. 

As Ramesh snatched papers from Sheriff before he could read it out and hit at the mike on his table prompting angry remarks from Kurien, Chowdhary kept shouting "undemocratic, undemocratic".

Kurien rejected Samajwadi Party's demand to discuss yesterday's happenings in Lok Sabha saying "you cannot discuss Lok Sabha in this House."

Chowdhary, however, argued that Lok Sabha is within the country and shouted "please restore democracy". 

In the post-lunch sitting four bills were passed but the Telangana bill was not taken up as the House was adjourned for the day amid noisy scenes. As Minister K.S. Rao rose to speak on the Telangana bill, Kurien informed him that it was not being taken up now.

"I thank the members for their cooperation...let's call it a day," he said and adjourned the House till Thursday.

All the while, three members including Congress member K.V.P. Ramchandra Rao were standing near the Chair carrying placard demanding united Andhra Pradesh.

Several members from BJP and Left parties demanded proper discussion on the bill that aims to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and Seemandhra. 

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla assured the House the government too was in favour of a discussion on the bill before its passage.

Earlier, Rao earned the wrath of Kurien who said he belonged to Lok Sabha and should behave or leave the Upper House. The observation came when Rao was causing disturbances while opposing the Telangana bill, passed by Lok Sabha on Tuesday amid din, chaos and an unprecedented black out of televison coverage.

Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley invoked rules to say the Congress minister, being member of Lok Sabha, cannot disturb the Upper House through protests. 

Earlier in the day, noisy protests erupted in the House with members from Congress, TDP and SP trooping into the Well forcing two adjournments in the pre-lunch sitting.

Samajwadi Party MPs were also in the Well seeking a resolution to condemn the black out of Lok Sabha proceedings during the passage the controversial Telangana bill.

Raising the issue, Naresh Agrawal (SP) alleged that the manner in which the Telangana bill was passed in Lok Sabha yesterday, it seemed democracy was "murdered". 

Next: Uproar in Lok Sabha too

Uproar in Lok Sabha too

Parliament witnessed ruckus on Wednesday following uproar over blackout of Lok Sabha TV during the debate on Telangana and a host of other issues.

In Lok Sabha, as soon as the proceedings began, BJP members vociferously protested the disruption of the live telecast of the proceedings when the House was debating the Telangana Bill on Tuesday.

BJP member Shahnawaz Hussain said the country could not witness the debate on Telangana on TV as the government allegedly did not allow to the live telecast.

Other BJP members joined Hussain in the protest and demanded action against those who were responsible for it.

CEO of Lok Sabha TV Rajiv Mishra yesterday said the channel could not telecast live proceedings because of a technical problem.

DMK members led by T.R. Baalu and Samajwadi Party members too protested near the Well but could not be heard in the din.

Amid noisy scenes, the Speaker adjourned the House till noon. Later when convened, the Lok Sabha was adjourned till 2 PM following uproar over the issue of SC/ST reservation and House was adjourned later for the day.