Uproar in Lok Sabha over Ahamed’s death

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha witnessed noisy protest from some Opposition MPs who demanded a probe to find if the authorities at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital had deliberately delayed announcement of the death of E Ahamed, MP and former minister, who was pronounced dead early Wednesday morning, the day of the Union Budget.

Ahmed was rushed from Parliament House to the hospital a day earlier after he collapsed in Parliament following a heart attack.

Protesting MPs, mostly from Kerala, led by KC Venugopal ( Congress) and NK Premachandran (RSP) claimed they had information that Ahmed had died on Tuesday afternoon and demanded that the House order a probe to know where the hospital delayed the announcement of his death deliberately.

Adding to the din were Trinamool Congress MPs who held a parallel protest over the recent arrest of two fellow party MPs over alleged involvement in a chit fund scam.

The noisy protests led to the Speaker adjourning the House for the day. Later at a press conference, the MPs alleged that they were not allowed to move either an adjournment motion or raise the matter during zero hour as the “government was not ready to have the issue raised in the House”.

Later in the day, the superintendent of RML Hospital denied the charge that the announcement of Ahmed’s death was deliberately delayed.