It is the duty of the government to ensure free functioning of the house: BJP
NEW DELHI: On Monday the Rajya Sabha was adjourned twice after agitated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members again raised the issue of the Gujarat governor appointing a Lokayukta without consulting the Narendra Modi-led state government.
The house witnessed first adjournment soon after it started. BJP members raised slogans against the appointment of retired judge RA Mehta as Lokayukta by Governor Kamla Beniwal. Some of them gathered the near the podium of Chairman Hamid Ansari, who adjourned the house till 12 noon.
He said, “The house is adjourned till 12 o’ clock since it is not the wish of the members to have the question hour conducted.”
After the house reassembled, BJP members continued their protest. The chair then adjourned the house till 2 pm.
Vijaykumar Rupani, a BJP MP from Gujarat, later said the government had not responded though the issue of appointment of the Lokayukta was being raised in the house for the past three days.
“The appointment of Lokayukta without consultation of state government is violation of the constitution. The notification of his appointment should be taken back,” Rupani told IANS.
He said “the federal structure will crash” if appointments were made in this manner.
It was the duty of the government to ensure that the house functioned smoothly and that it should respond to issues raised by the opposition, the BJP MP said.
