The proceedings in the Rajya Sabha were adjourned till Monday amid the opposition’s demand for a discussion on the Pegasus snooping issue, farm laws, fuel price hike, and inflation.

The House proceedings started with the Chairman expressing concern over whistling in the House and warned members of action. Naidu said that if this is allowed then it would become a tradition or action should be taken against such acts. He appealed to members to desist from unparliamentary norms.

Advertisement

The opposition members on Thursday had resorted to sloganeering. After a sound of the whistle was heard in the House during the sloganeering, Deputy Chairman Harivansh warned that he will name the member.

Chairman of the House M. Venkaiah Naidu also said that he was examining the privilege notice against MoS Health moved by K.C. Venugopal.

“I moved a Privilege notice under rule 187 today in Rajya Sabha against MoS Health regarding her misleading statement on whether there were any deaths due to oxygen shortage during the Covid second wave,” Venugopal said.

Soon after the papers were laid, the House was adjourned till 12 noon. After the House assembled again, the question hour was continued for some time but was adjourned till 2.30 p.m. and when it assembled for the third time in the day, Deputy Chairman Harivansh asked the members to move private member Bills to which only members from the treasury benches moved while opposition MPs did not move. The opposition continued with its protest. In the din, Coconut Development Board (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed and the Bill on deposit insurance was introduced in the House.

Since the Monsoon Session of Parliament commenced, only on one day the opposition participated in the discussion on the Covid situation. On the rest of the days, the opposition has not allowed the House to function and forced repeated adjournments.

The opposition has joined forces to corner the government. On Friday, the floor leaders of like-minded opposition parties in both the Houses met and decided to continue their protest.

The like-minded opposition parties have been meeting at the office of Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, to discuss strategy during the ongoing session. The opposition is pressing their demands to discuss the Pegasus snooping issue, fuel price hike, and inflation apart from the farm laws.

The government is passing Bills amid the din and without discussion which has further upset the equations between the government and the opposition.