By IANS
New Delhi : Continuous din by the opposition demanding a joint parliamentary committee to examine the Indo-US nuclear deal led to a second adjournment of both houses of parliament Thursday.
The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned again till 2 p.m. after both houses met at 12 noon after the first adjournment.
In the Lok Sabha, the government passed two bills despite the din – the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Amendment Bill 2007 and the Competition (Amendment) Bill 2007 which makes it mandatory for companies that undertake mergers and acquisitions in India and overseas to inform the competition committee. The government also tabled the papers listed in Thursday’s business.
Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar also tabled a statement in response to a calling attention motion on the need to strengthen panchayati raj institutions financially in order to fulfil the constitutional obligations and discharge the duties effectively.
The bills were passed by a voice vote.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena thronged near the speaker’s podium shouting “JPC lao, desh bachao” (bring the JPC and save the country).
Earlier, both houses had been adjourned till noon.
In the morning when the Lok Sabha met, newly-elected Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MP from Jamshedpur Suman Mahto, wife of slain MP Sunil Mahto, was administered the oath.
Thereafter, MPs belonging to Bharatiya Janata Party and Samajwadi Party were on their feet demanding the setting up of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to go into the nuclear agreement.
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee pleaded with them to raise the issue after question hour, but the MPS continued to make noise. The speaker then adjourned the house at 11.05 a.m. till noon.
The opposition National Democratic Alliance MPs had earlier held a meeting and decided to continue disruption of house proceedings demanding dismantling of the 15-member United Progressive Alliance-Left panel to look into the deal and have a JPC instead.