Lok Sabha adjourned due to continued Opposition uproar over demonetisation

NEW DELHI: A relentless opposition today disrupted the proceedings of the Lok Sabha for the second consecutive day demanding that they be allowed to move an adjournment motion on the demonetisation issue.

While Speaker Sumitra Mahajan rejected several notices moved by opposition leaders for an adjournment motion on the issue, the government said it was ready for a debate under a rule which does not entail voting and where no formal motion can be moved.

As soon as the House met for the day, Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge demanded that the issue of scrapping of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 denomination notes be discussed through an adjournment motion and not the rule being proposed by the government.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the government was willing to discuss the issue and there was no need to press for an adjournment motion.

As the din continued, the House was adjourned for nearly one hour till noon, minutes after it assembled.

When the House assembled again for Zero Hour, the opposition again pressed for moving an adjournment motion. But the Speaker rejected all the notices. Both Kharge and TMC leader Sudip Bandopadhyay insisted that the debate be taken up through an adjournment motion.

The Parliamentary Affairs Minister once again urged the opposition to take up the debate under Rule 193 which does not entail voting and a formal motion.

Kumar said the opposition should not "run away" from a debate and maintained that it was up to the Chair to decide under which rule the discussion will take place.

As part of their Zero Hour references, Meenakshi Lekhi and Gajendra Singh Chauhan (both BJP) raised the issue of remarks made by Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad yesterday where he had said that more people died due to government's decision on demonetisation than those killed in Pakistani terrorist strike in Uri. These remarks were expunged yesterday itself.

The two BJP members slammed Azad for the statement and demanded that a resolution be passed against him and he should be asked to apologise in writing.

As differences persisted and opposition continued to raise slogans like "Pradhan Mantri sadan meing aao" and "Vijay Mallya kahan gaya", the House was adjourned for the day.

Earlier in the din, papers listed for the day were tabled in the House.