Rajya Sabha Adjourned on Price Rise Again

For the second successive day today, the Rajya Sabha was again adjourned as opposition demanded a discussion on rising prices of essential commodities under a rule that requires voting, reported IANS.

Soon after house assembled at 11 am, SS Ahluwalia and other members of the BJP insisted that the discussion should be held under rules 167 and 168 and not as a short duration discussion as the government had agreed to, which resulted in noisy scenes, said report.

It may be mentioned that for a discussion under the two rules, voting is required and the sense of the house on the topic under discussion is recorded.

Amid demands, chairman Hamid Ansari made repeated pleas for allowing question hour to proceed and even Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prithviraj Chavan stressed that the government had accepted the opposition’s demand on Monday for a short duration discussion, a stance that was modified on Tuesday, report said.

“We are ready for a discussion. Let question hour be suspended and let the discussion begin right now,” Chavan was quoted as saying amidst the din.

With the opposition not relenting, Ansari adjourned the house till 12 noon.