Parliament adjourned for 12th day in a row

For the 12th straight working day, Parliament was on Monday adjourned till noon as Opposition members persisted with their demand for a Joint Parliamentary probe in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

A thinly-attended Lok Sabha saw members thumping their desks after Speaker Meira Kumar lauded the performance of Indian sportspersons in the recently concluded Asian Games. Minister Harish Rawat was seen congratulating Suresh Kalmadi, president of the Indian Olympic Association and a Parliament member from Pune.

But as soon as the Speaker took up the Question Hour, members trooped to the well, demanding a JPC probe into the allocation of 2G spectrum. They also waved copies of newspaper with reports on various alleged scams.

Congress members too were seen in the aisles, waving placards demanding the resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa in connection with a controversial land allocation deal.

As her repeated appeals went unheeded, the Speaker adjourned the House till noon. Interestingly, senior leaders including Pranab Mukherjee, Sonia Gandhi, L K Advani and Sushma Swaraj were not present in the House for Question Hour.

The number of Cabinet ministers present in the House too was very few. In the Rajya Sabha, where the attendance was better than that in the Lower House, members from Bharatiya Janata Party and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam rushed to the well even before Chairman Hamid Ansari could take his seat.

The chairman told the members "let us for a change take up the Question Hour" and took up the first listed question.

However, the Opposition members remained unrelenting and continued shouting slogans. As the din continued, Ansari adjourned the House till noon.