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| Parliament paralysed over leakage of report | | | NEW DELHI, AUG 7
The leakage of the Pathak Authority report rocked Parliament today with indicted Natwar Singh seeking to raise breach of privilege against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha getting all round support from the opposition as well as government allies Samajwadi Party and Left parties.
Proceedings were paralysed in the Rajya Sabha, of which Natwar Singh is a member, and the Lok Sabha where Congress President Sonia Gandhi was the target of opposition attack.
Demands for the Prime Minister's resignation and an apology from him was made by opposition members in the Lok Sabha. The Prime Minister was not present in either House.
In the Rajya Sabha, besides Natwar Singh, members from BJP, SP, TDP and AIADMK gave notices for the breach of privilege while in Lok Sabha, it was BJP, JD(U) as also SP.
Opposition members stormed the well of the Lok Sabha while slogan-shouting reigned supreme in the Rajya Sabha where Natwar Singh made repeated attempts to have his say.
Congress members sought to counter the opposition by seeking to know the fate of their notice of breach of privilege against Leader of the Opposition Jaswant Singh on the mole-in-the-PMO issue.
Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat observed the notices of breach of privilege by Natwar Singh against the Prime Minister as also Congress notice were under his consideration.
"Natwar ko fasaya, Sonia ko bachaya" (Natwar trapped and Sonia saved) slogans rent the air as a visibily angry Speaker Somnath Chatterjee adjourned the House for the day in the afternoon after two adjournments.
Similar was the case in the Rajya Sabha which witnessed two adjournments after noisy scenes.
Repeated adjournments marked stormy proceedings in the Rajya Sabha with an angry Natwar Singh seeking an opportunity to raise the issue of the breach of privilege notice against the Prime Minister.
"Congress ka pole kholne do; Natwar ko bolne do (Let Natwar speak and expose Congress)," shouted opposition members as they trooped into the well.
They were countered by Congress members, led by Narayanasamy, who shouted slogans "Mole, Mole", a reference to the mole-in-the-PMO controversy on which a breach of privilege notice against Jaswant Singh had been given by the party.
Amidst the din, the Chairman said he could not give permission to anybody to speak on the privilege motions till he decided on their admissibility.
"I have received several privilege notices from Natwar Singh and Narayanasamy. They are under my consideration ....Till I take a decision I cannot give permission to anyone to discuss or talk. These are under my examination," he said.
In the Lok Sabha, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee told members of BJP, JD(U) and SP that their notices were under his consideration. This failed to pacify opposition members who stormed the well.
Certain remarks by JD(U)'s Prabhunath Singh and slogans against Gandhi by the opposition led to a bout of protests from treasury benches.
With his repeated pleas to restore normalcy falling on deaf ears, the Speaker went through the listed business in the din. This included introduction of a bill and passage of another bill.
He, later, adjourned the House for the day.
He, however, told agitating members that their behaviour was "shameful and extremely condemnable".
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