Congress creates uproar in Rajya Sabha over naming of Hyderabad airport

NEW DELHI: Protesting against naming of Hyderabad domestic airport, Congress today disrupted the pre-lunch sitting of Rajya Sabha contending that Rajiv Gandhi's name has been removed, leading to three adjournments.

The House was adjourned once during Zero Hour and twice during Question Hour.

When the House met for the day, V Hanumantha Rao (Cong) raised the issue that a section of the Hyderabad airport was being renamed as NT Rama Rao Domestic Terminal and accused the the ruling party of taking "political mileage".

Carrying placards and shouting slogans, they trooped into the Well.

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien told Rao that he was not the only person having love for late Rajiv Gandhi and that the matter was raised yesterday by Anand Sharma (Cong) to which Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had even responded.

"Now you can't raise it again in Zero Hour. If you want to raise it again give proper notice," he said.

As repeated requests went unheeded, he adjourned the House for 10 minutes during Zero Hour.

Congress members created similar scenes when the House reassembled, prompting Chairman Hamid Ansari to again adjourn the House for 10 minutes.

But, the Congress members did not relent when the House reassembled. Despite vociferous protests, the Chair went ahead with the Question Hour.

However, the House was adjourned till 2 PM when members from different parties complained that they were unable to follow the proceedings amid din.

NT Rama Rao had founded the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which is now in power in Andhra Pradesh and is also part of ruling coalition at the Centre. Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju is a member of TDP.

The Question Hour was wasted during the last two days after protests by Congress on the issue.