Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, nearly cried in the Lok Sabha, when Left party leaders Basudev Acharya and Gurudas Das Gupta attacked him by quoting rules for not allowing them to speak after he had rejected the no confidence motion against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The motion was moved by the Left parties after Dr Singh refused to report to the House.
Those disqualified by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee are Bhalchandra Yadav (Khalilabad), Ramakant Yadav (Azamgarh) and Mohammad Shahid Akhlaque and their seats in the House have been declared vacant. Petitions for their disqualification were filed by the BSP under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law) on the ground that the three MPs had voluntarily given up the membership of their party and joined the Samajwadi Party.
The petitioner had a Congress background and in the recorded conversation, deregatory references were said to have been made against apex court judges.
Announcing this, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee thanked the members for their cooperation in passing the Finance Bill 2008, but regretted that 28 hours and 30 minutes were lost due to interruptions and forced adjournments. However, he also noted that the House sat for an extra 36 hours and 38 minutes to compensate for the loss.
The meeting saw Opposition agreeing to undertake orderly behaviour in the House and in turn Chatterjee withdrawing the controversial reference of the MPs, mostly from the BJP- led National Democratic Alliance, to the Committee, sources said. An announcement on the issue is expected when the House reassembles at 14.00 hours. "Wait till two," the Speaker said, when reporters asked him about the outcome of the meeting.
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has called for an all-party meeting to resolve the impasse over the privilege notice issue.
"Punishment is not the central theme. There is no pre-conceived idea whether the punishment should be meted out or not," Lok Sabha Privileges Committee Chairman V Kishore Chandra Deo told PTI. Deo said the very fact that Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has referred the issue to the committee rather than taking action on his own showed that he wanted to sort out the matter by going to the root.
Protest in the House that day was prompted by the National Democratic Alliance agitation against price rise, which found its echo in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha after the opposition members formed a human chain outside Parliament complex to denounce the government's failure to check the price spiral.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Wednesday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could undertake a foreign visit during the Parliament session, but other ministers should not go abroad without his permission.
Delhi Jal Board vice-chairman Kapil Mishra, 34, was on Wednesday named as the new law minister
The opposition bharatiya Janata Party had threatened to stall proceedings in the Lok Sabha if the government did not agree to a discussion
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee may have been expelled by his party, CPI(M), but his tenure as an MP, or for that matter, as the presiding officer of the Lower House remains unaffected, say constitutional and legal experts.
"Show respect to each other," was another comment during the pandemonium triggered by an issue raised by Biju Janata Dal member Braj Kishore Tripathi about alleged security rules violation during Congress lawmaker Rahul Gandhi's visit to Orissa last week. The Speaker also made it clear that it was he would 'decide what is relevant and what not'.
Angered by the charges that it was behind the 'cash for votes' scam, Samajwadi Party on Wednesday said it will be moving a breach of privilege against the three Bharatiya Janata Party MPs who made the charge. SP leader Mohan Singh told reporters that he has informed Speaker Somnath Chatterjee that his party would be giving a privilege notice against the BJP MPs for tarnishing the image of Parliament.
The Lok Sabha was brought to an abrupt halt on Tuesday afternoon when some Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Parliament waved bundles of currency, claiming the Samajwadi Party had tried to bribe them to vote in favour of the United Progressive Alliance government.A political observer, who did not wish to be named, said, "Why do I get the feeling that the BJP is preparing for a walkout. By walking out, the government will sail through the trust vote.
Defying a Communist Party of India directive to quit his post before the trust vote, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Monday chaired an all-party meeting in New Delhi ahead of the special session of the Lok Sabha to decide on the confidence motion.The Speaker had called the meeting of the floor leaders of parties to discuss issues related to the trust vote being sought by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in the wake of the Left withdrawing support to the UPA.
The four TRS MPs -- Vinod Kumar, Ravindra Naik and T Madhusudan Reddy -- submitted their resignation to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. The TRS chief had announced on Sunday at a rally in New Delhi that MPs of his party will tender their resignation from the Lok Sabha, as the Congress with whom it fought elections on the issue, had ditched it after coming to power.
"You are working over time to finish off democracy," a visibly angry Speaker Somnath Chatterjee castigated members in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh was forced by an agitated Opposition and Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to withdraw his un-parliamentary remarks against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
President Pratibha Patil, Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and several other leaders greeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who turned 75 on Wednesday.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former deputy prime minister Lal Kishenchand Advani is contemplating another rath yatra to pay homage to those who sacrificed everything for the country's freedom.
The right to recall as a strategy for enforcing greater accountability of Parliamentarians is expected to come up for discussion in the Commonwealth conference.
The external affairs ministry had pleaded that in view of the unqualified apology tendered by him, the matter be closed.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee is hurt over how the Election Commission played a "very, very dubious role" after then President A P J Abdul Kalam referred the Office of Profit issue to it acting on advice that was "not correct".
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has passed the buck to the House Privilege Committee to wriggle out of the tricky issue of two petitions by the rival groups of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, seeking disqualification of each other's MPs for defying whip on the trust vote on July 22.
Says rules will be implemented strictly next time
"Our decision to form an alliance with the Congress was to stop the Modi-Shah duo," Sisodia said.
Members of Parliament belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party lead the list of 32 lawmakers, who received privilege notices from the Lok Sabha Speaker's office for their disorderly conduct in the House. Besides the BJP, the list also has names of lawmakers from the Biju Janata Dal, Shiromani Akali Dal and Janata Dal-United.
Sotheby's raised $1.5 million for Kolkata Musuem of Modern Art in New York
Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and Governor O P Kohli were also present at the meeting.
The National Democratic Alliance and the Left Front have agreed to discuss the Nandigram issue in Parliament. The discussion will be held under rule 193 that does not entail voting.
In the eye of storm over his refusal to quit, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Friday said he will retire at the end of his term and was not keen on rejoining CPI(M) which expelled him recently.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Wednesday said that all senior ministers should be present during the debate on the India-United States nuclear agreement in Parliament next week in the absence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who will be on an international visit. Chatterjee played down the Opposition's objection over Singh's visit abroad during the debate on the nuclear deal, saying the Prime Minister cannot avoid traveling as he is required to represent the country.
Modi said bribery was not possible as the money was transferred directly into accounts of the beneficiaries.
Expulsion from the party often entails a social boycott of the person by the members of the political family, say insiders, and this is not going to be easy for Somnath Chatterjee who has spent the best part of his life in the CPI-M.
The Congress hinted that it would like Somnath Chatterjee to continue as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha even after his expulsion from the CPI-M.
Nationalist Congress Party's Agatha K Sangma on Monday took oath as a member of the 14th Lok Sabha, becoming the youngest Member of Parliament of the current House.The other two are Anurag Singh Thakur of Bharatiya Janata Party and Anand Paranjpe of Shiv Sena.The three other new members who took oath are A Indrakaran Reddy (Congress) of Adilabad, B Vinod Kumar (TRS) of Hanamkonda and Errabelli Dayakar Rao (Telugu Desam Party) of Warangal.
Chatterjee hit out at MPs for speaking out of turn and refusing to do their job. He also criticised MPs for not respecting the authority of the Chair. The Speaker was particularly dismayed at the comments of Shiv Sena MP Anant Gite, which Chatterjee felt were 'intended to divide the country'.
The committee will inquire into cases of misconduct of members of Lok Sabha, including misuse of parliamentary privileges and facilities by them and submit its report within the month.
Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned for an hour, minutes after they assembled on Tuesday, after Opposition NDA and Third Front created an uproar over plight of farmers across the country.
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