Opposition MPs staged a protest on Tuesday against the speaker's gag order in refusing to take up their privilege motion.
NEW DELHI: Staging a dramatic protest outside parliament with black bands strapped across their mouths, Opposition MPs Tuesday boycotted proceedings in the Lok Sabha against Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's refusal to take up their privilege motion.
This unusual protest elicited an anguished response from the Speaker, who requested the MPs to return to the house and participate in the proceedings.
"It is very unfortunate that this protest is happening. The house cannot function without the Opposition and I am asking them to return. There are always ways we can sort out differences," Chatterjee told the Lok Sabha during question hour.
Even Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Das Munshi beseeched the Opposition MPs to call off their protest and said he was pained. He also reposed faith in the Speaker's abilities and talent to run the House.
All the Lok Sabha MPs of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Leader of Opposition LK Advani, congregated outside the Gandhi statue in front of Parliament House and held a symbolic protest for an hour before dispersing for the day.
That the Opposition leaders were boycotting the Lok Sabha became clear when they refused to attend their daily meeting with the Speaker and sign the daily register.
Said Seshadri Chari, BJP spokesperson: "This is a gag order. All the Lok Sabha MPs will not attend the proceedings today. We are protesting Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's refusal to take up our privilege motion against the prime minister."
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deputy leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra had on Monday given notice of a privilege motion against the government on the leakage of the RS Pathak panel report, which indicts former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh for misusing his position in securing contracts in Iraq's oil-for-food scam.
Even as MPs in the Lok Sabha boycotted proceedings, their colleagues in the Rajya Sabha staged noisy protests and demanded the resignation of Finance Minister P Chidambaram over allegations that he connived with a leading industrialist to artificially jack up prices on the Bombay stock exchange
According to sources in the Rajya Sabha secretariat, former foreign minister Natwar Singh's privilege motion against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be referred to the Privileges Committee only if the Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat accepted it.
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