By IANS
New Delhi : Critical remarks by Indian envoy Ronen Sen against the opponents of the India-US civilian nuclear deal continued to rankle MPs Wednesday, forcing two adjournments of the Rajya Sabha, while the Lok Sabha was adjourned once.
As soon as the two houses assembled at 11 a.m., agitated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members were on their feet demanding action against Sen, who has already apologised for the remarks and said he was quoted out of context.
Failing to restore order, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari adjourned the houses till 12 noon.
The continuing din in the Rajya Sabha when the house resumed forced Ansari to adjourn the house till 2 p.m.
The Lok Sabha functioned normally when the house resumed though some BJP members raised slogans while papers were being tabled.
Sen’s “headless chicken” remarks were taken as a disparaging allusion to MPs criticising the deal but which envoy says was in reference to mediapersons “running around like headless chicken, looking for a comment here or a comment there…” on the nuclear deal.
The envoy apologised for the remarks, saying the “tactless” reference was to “some of my media friends” and not parliamentarians and it had been misunderstood and quoted out of context.