The Rajya Sabha was today adjourned repeatedly and failed to take up a listed discussion on price-rise as Opposition members insisted that suspension of 12 of their colleagues must be revoked before taking up any substantive business.
The House could neither take up the Zero Hour nor the Question Hour as the Opposition members kept shouting slogans.
The Opposition members stormed into the well of the House and many of them carried placards to demand revocation of the suspensions.
When the time for the short duration discussion on price-rise came after lunch, Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said the suspended members should be allowed to come in as they also wanted to speak on price-rise.
Deputy Chairman Harivansh told the Opposition members to leave the well of the House and take up the discussion which was sought by the senior Opposition leaders. He adjourned the House till 3 pm.
Vice-Chairman Sasmit Patra who was in the Chair later called the Opposition members, who had given the notice for the discussion, one by one. But they declined to speak unless the suspended members were back in the House.
Leader of the House Piyush Goyal said the nation was watching the conduct of the members. He said the discussion could not be initiated when members were in the well of the House.
The House was adjourned till 4 pm, then, when Home Minister Amit Shah came and gave his statement on Nagaland Army firing incident amidst continuous shouting by the Opposition.
The Deputy Chairman said the Opposition could seek clarifications but adjourned the proceedings for the day as there was no let-up in the slogan shouting by the Opposition.