Rajya Sabha adjourned till 2 pm amid Opposition uproar

New Delhi [India], December 15 (ANI) The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday adjourned for the second time till 2 pm as the Opposition parties continued their protest and disrupted proceedings of the House seeking revocation of suspension of 12 MPs from the House.
Deputy Leader of Congress in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma cited rule 256 (2) while addressing the Chair and demanded the "termination" of suspension of 12 MPs soon after the House reassembled at noon following the first adjournment over the same issue.
The Congress leader also informed that the party has also moved a notice over the issue.
Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh rejected the appeal, saying "the notice moved by the Congress is inadmissible..."
It led to a sharp fierce argument from Opposition parties and most of their members trooped into the Well of the House shouting slogans like "bring back suspension" and "dictatorship will not work".
A united Opposition including Congress, TMC, NCP, RJD, AAP, Left, IUML, Shiv Sena, SP, and BDP took part in the protest against the government and the members of these parties also showed placards-- two of which mentioned "save democracy" and "suspend us".
The Deputy Chairman continued Question Hour amid the pandemonium.
As the members continued their protest, the Deputy Chairman said, "You (Opposition) don't want the Question Hour to run. You cannot come into the Well of the House and shout slogans. It is against the ruling of Rajya Sabha."
As the ruckus continued, the Deputy Chairman adjourned the House till 2 pm.
Earlier, the House was adjourned till noon by the Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu over the same issue.
Soon after the House assembled for the day and the papers were laid on the table at 11 am, Congress leaders P. Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, and Jairam Ramesh raised the issue with the Chair to acknowledge the suspension of 12 MPs.
Chidambaram and Sharma then said that the party has moved notice while Ramesh said "Sir, you have the power to revoke the suspension of 22 MPs".
The Chairman said, "I have not received any notice yet". "I know the rule book. If notice is there, I will go through it...".
"Please go to your seat. I think you don't want to let the House function. You are disrupting the proceedings regularly," Naidu said
The Chairman started the Zero Hour.
Meanwhile Opposition members including Congress, NCP, DMK, Left started sloganeering by standing in the House, and several Opposition members also trooped into the Well of the House.
Amid the din, the Chairman adjourned the House till noon.
In a move that angered the Opposition and set the stage for acrimonious exchanges, a dozen members of Opposition parties in Rajya Sabha were suspended from the winter session on the very first day on Monday following a motion brought in by the government.
The members were suspended for alleged unruly conduct towards the end of the monsoon session in August when marshals were called after Opposition members stormed the Well of the House during the passage of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021.
The suspended members comprise six from the Congress, two each from Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena, and one each from CPI and CPM: Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, Ripun Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain, and Akhilesh Prasad Singh of Congress; Dola Sen, Shanta Chhetri of Trinamool Congress; Priyanka Chaturvedi, Anil Desai of Shiv Sena; Elamaram Kareem of CPM; and, Binoy Viswam of CPI.
All the suspended 12 MPs used to sit near Mahatma Gandhi statue inside the Parliament premises since they were suspended from the House, and the Opposition parties have been relentlessly disrupting House proceedings every day over the issue barring a few occasions. (ANI)