Antulay issue forces adjournment in both Houses of Parliament

NEW DELHI: The Antulay issue once again caused uproar in Parliament on Monday as agitated BJP and Shiv Sena members stormed the well in both the Houses demanding sacking of the Union Minister, forcing their brief adjournments.

While Rajya Sabha was adjourned twice, Lok Sabha adjourned once as the Opposition members demanded Antulay's sacking for his controversial remarks on the circumstances of the death of former Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare.

Soon after the Upper House assembled for the day, BJP members were on their feet demanding a discussion on Antulay's comments and trooped into the well. Chairman Hamid Ansari first adjourned the House at 1111 hours for 10 minutes, which was followed by another adjournment till 12 noon as unruly scenes persisted.

In the Lok Sabha, BJP and Shiv Sena members stormed the well as the House took up introduction of the Life Insurance Corporation (Amendment) Bill, which was opposed by CPI(M)'s Basudeb Acharia.

The BJP members continued slogan-shouting in the well even as Acharia opposed the introduction of the LIC bill, saying the legislation was "nothing but privatisation" of the insurance sector and aimed to increase foreign investment in it from 26 to 49 per cent.

Dubbing the measure as "unconstitutional", the CPI(M) leader demanded a division. After Acharia's demand, Speaker ordered that lobbies be cleared, but within a matter of a minute, adjourned the House till 1300 hours as the din continued.

Incidentally, last week government had scraped through when the Left had sought division on certain amendments in the bill concerning workers in the unorganised sector.