Ruckus in Rajya Sabha as BJP MP rakes up 'corruption' in Karnataka

Rajya Sabha on Friday (July 26) witnessed noisy scenes during the Zero Hour after Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar rejected notices by ruling party members to suspend listed business of the House to discuss an issue related to corruption in Karnataka, but allowed a BJP member to raise the matter.

Treasury members were on their feet to protest rejection of the notices under Rule 267 of procedure and conduct of business of Rajya Sabha, while Opposition, mainly Congress MPs objected to Chair's permission to BJP's Iranna Kadadi to raise the issue of corruption in Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation (KMVSTDC) as part of his Zero Hour mention.

Kadadi, Brij Lal, Naresh Bansal and Sudhanshu Trivedi of BJP had given the notices.

Dhankhar’s move sparks protest

Dhankhar had to repeatedly ask the protesting members from both sides to accept his ruling and bring order in the House.

Soon after the House paid homage to martyrs of Kargil War and laying of listed papers, the chairman said that while there were no notices under Rule 267 during the past two days, he has received four from MPs belonging to the ruling party demanding discussion on the issue of corruption in KMVSTDC by suspending the scheduled business.

“All of them (notices) belonged to the ruling party. These notices ignore my directives which were explicit. There may be issues of great importance, many have been raised under 267 earlier (by Opposition), I declined all of them. No issue which is otherwise of great urgency and contemporary relevance call for invocation of Rule 267. This invocation notwithstanding your feelings on the issue does not come up to the requirement of Rule 267,” he said while rejecting the notices.

However, he said Kadadi has been permitted to raise the matter as part of his Zero Hour mention. As Opposition members protested against Kadadi being allowed to raise the issue, Dhankhar said he has used his discretion as the Chairman of the House to allow the member to speak.

New precedent being set: Oppn

When Kadadi's turn came to speak on the KMVSTDC issue, Congress members objected saying that his name does not appear in the list of speakers for the Zero Hour morning session.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said since Kadadi's name is not in the list circulated, the chair may allow him to speak on the issue some other day. He said the Chair cannot change the Listed Business of the day arbitrarily. “We know of a Listed Business but we have never heard of Unlisted Business being allowed to be raised,” he said.

Dhankhar said that while giving his ruling on the notices under Rule 267, he had categorically informed multiple times that Kadadi has been allowed to raise the issue during the ongoing Zero Hour.

DMK MP Tiruchi Siva urged the Chairman that since a new precedent was being set, hereafter if Rule 267 notices by Opposition members are disallowed by the Chair, they should similarly be allowed to raise the issue in Zero Hour.

Responding to it, Dhankhar claimed he had “invariably” been following the practice whenever the members, whose Rule 267 notices were disallowed, agreed to raise their issue under Zero Hour.

RS chairman misleading: Jaya

Opposition MPs, including Congress’ Jairam Ramesh, P Chidambaram, Randeep Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik, SP's Jaya Bachchan, DMK's Tiruchi Siva, asserted that the Chairman has "never allowed" Opposition MPs to raise their concerns in Zero Hour mentions when these are not listed in the day’s business. Bachchan pointedly told the Chair, “You are misleading, this is the first time you are doing this.”

Surjewala slammed Kadadi for trying to score a political point using Zero Hour mention and deflect attention from the BJP's corruption in Karnataka during its term in power. However, Dhankhar hit out at him, saying, “Surjewala you are the one doing politics”, and allowed Kadadi to continue speaking.

Later, Kadadi spoke on the alleged corruption in KMVSTDC amid protest by Opposition.

(With agency inputs)