By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was Tuesday put on the mat over a multi-crore money garland given to its leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati with Samajwadi Party, Congress, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members questioning the extravagance in the Lok Sabha. The continuous uproar led to the house being adjourned for the day.
The Lok Sabha will now meet April 12, after a three-week break.
The members were on feet on the issue as the house re-assembled at 2 p.m. after two adjournments on the issue earlier in the day.
Deputy Speaker Karia Munda invited Congress’ Sandip Dixit to speak on the National Green Tribunal Bill, 2009, which was moved by Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh Monday.
When the MPs continued their protest, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V. Narayanasamy requested the members to let the house function as the Green Tribunal Bill had to be passed.
“I’ve coveyed it to the government and we will look into the matter. Beyond this the government cannot do anything.”
“Please let the house function. The bill has to be passed,” Narayansamy said.
But Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj said the government has made similar promises earlier and members should be allowed to raise the matter.
“So many MPs are on their feet on a particular issue and they should be allowed to speak on this,” she said.
Meanwhile, the BSP MPs strongly defended their leader.
The deputy speaker, however, did not allow the MPs to speak. As the protest continued, the chair adjourned the house to meet April 12 after the inter-session recess.
Outside the Parliament House, the MPs, however, demanded an investigation into the extravaganza.
“An investigation should be initiated to reveal the source of the money,” Congress MP Jagadambika Pal told reporters outside parliament after the second adjournment of the house at 1 p.m.
BJP MPs also joined the protest to demand an inquiry into the extravaganza.
BJP MP Yogi Adityanath said: “We would like to know the source of money. She is the chief minister of the state. So, the people have the right to know about the source of the money.”
The Lok Sabha was first adjourned during zero hour after Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Jagadambika Pal tried to raise the issue. Speaker Meira Kumar, however, invited other MPs who had given notices earlier to speak on other subjects.
MPs from the SP and Congress belonging to Uttar Pradesh were up on their feet while BSP members protested noisily. Amid the uproar, the speaker adjourned the house for 40 minutes at 12.20 p.m.
The unrest continued when the house re-assembled at 1 p.m. The MPs asked the deputy speaker to allow them to raise the matter. But he said the chair did not receive any notice from the MPs on the issue and therefore could not be allowed to speak on it.
The MPs continued their protests and the deputy speaker adjourned the house till 2 p.m.
Critics alleged that the multi-crore garland was just a small part of the extravagant Rs.200 crore celebrations Monday to mark 25 years of the BSP and party founder Kanshi Ram’s birth anniversary.
The garland made of thousands of Rs.1,000 denomination currency notes was presented to Mayawati at the rally in Lucknow Monday.