NEET row: Congress' KC Venugopal, Manickam Tagore give adjournment notice in Lok Sabha

New Delhi [India], July 1 (ANI): Congress MPs KC Venugopal and Manickam Tagore on Monday gave adjournment motion notices in Lok Sabha, demanding a discussion on the ongoing controversy over the alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
In his notice, Manickam Tagore urged the House to suspend all listed business of the day to discuss the "unprecedented cases of paper leaks in the conduct of exams, including NEET-UG and UGC NET, and the failure of NTA."
On June 28, before both Houses adjourned for the day, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha witnessed several adjournments, with Congress and other opposition parties insisting on a debate on the NEET-UG controversy while the government was keen to take up the motion of thanks on the President's address.
No business was conducted in Lok Sabha on Friday, with the opposition pressing for a discussion on the alleged irregularities in NEET.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, sought to raise the NEET-UG issue. Speaker Om Birla stated that there was no provision for discussion on any other issue when the House had to take up the debate on the motion of thanks on the President's address.
He mentioned that members could raise all issues during the debate on the motion of thanks and that the government would reply to them. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju made similar remarks and condemned opposition members for coming to the well of the House.
Rajya Sabha also saw repeated adjournments, with Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar expressing his disappointment over Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is the Leader of the Opposition, coming to the well of the House over opposition demands. The opposition members later staged a walkout.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh later stated that a veteran politician like Kharge was ignored and not allowed to speak, forcing him to enter the well of the House.
The House took up the debate on the motion of thanks on the President's address amid protests by the opposition over its demands, with BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi initiating the debate. (ANI)