New Delhi [India], December 3 : The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday erupted in a heated exchange of words between Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge and the Chairman CP Radhakrishnan, after the Upper House agreed to hold a discussion on the renaming of Governor's residence to Lok Bhavan.
"Everything is connected to the subject, and that subject was examined in your (RS Chairman) office. After that only she (Dola Sen) spoke. The Leader of the house cannot interfere and say everything is unparliamentary, you delete. Leader is telling, Leader is bulldozing," Kharge told Chairman Radhakrishnan.
Questioning JP Nadda called for deleting anything unrelated to the discussion, Kharge asked the RS Chairman, "Do we not want to run (the House) according to parliamentary democracy? All the records, keep them intact, not a single word should be removed."
Nadda too replied to Kharge's accusation, asking Chairman Radhakrishnan, "I need your protection sir, I have never bulldozed, I have only said that whatever is related to the subject should be admitted and whatever is not related, you may please examine."
The exchange took place after TMC MP Dola Sen spoke on the issue, and accused the BJP of running a "dictatorship" which will eventually be thrown out by the people. She claimed that the state governments were not consulted before changing the name of Raj Bhavan, which is now Lok Bhavan. "The expenses for (Lok Bhavan) is borne by the state government by many years, but the state assembly is not aware of these notifications (on name change). Surely the state government should be consulted. This is not just an attack on federalism...but in effect Raj Bhavan is being made to run a parallel government and to use them as extended party officers of BJP" TMC MP Dola Sen said in her speech. As part of larger conspiracy, in Bengal, the order of MHA has been brought into effect but what is the situation of people on the ground?" she asked.
She further criticised the Centre for allegedly not clearing the dues of West Bengal, including Rs 43 thousand crore for MNREGA, Rs 42,600 crore for cyclones, Rural Housing Scheme Rs 24,200 crore.
Following the speech by the TMC MP, Leader of the House and BJP MP JP Nadda requested the chairman to examine Dola Sen's words, and strike anything off the record which is not related to the discussion at hand.
"She was permitted to speak on zero hour, but she used this opportunity to raise the issue in the House about the issue related to MNREGA and other issues. I would like to be very clear that because it is not related to the subject, it should be deleted and it should not be brought to record, and the only issue related to the Lok Bhawan should be admitted," Nadda said in Rajya Sabha.
Chairman and Vice President Radhakrishnan agreed with Nadda's request, saying that it was already made clear that anything unrelated to the discussion will not be put on the record.
"yes I have already said anything deviating from subject will not go on record," he said.
The third day of the winter session of Parliament started at 11 AM today, with INDIA bloc MPs launching a protest against the 4 Labour Codes outside Parliament premises.
Claiming that the four labour codes propagate "corporate jungle raj," the INDIA bloc MPs held up various banners, and a bigger banner reading "No to Corporate Jungle raj- Yes to labour justice"
The INDIA bloc protest comes after the Opposition's repeated demands for a discussion was accepted by the Government. The Central government is set to hold a discussion on electoral reforms on December 9.
Since the Parliament winter session started, INDIA bloc MPs have been protesting against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), with the government urging for cooperation.