New Delhi: 3:33 pm: Even as the Rajya Sabha Chairperson asked V Narayanasamy to initiate discussion on the Lokpal Bill, the Samajwadi Party MPs entered the well of the House and demanded a discussion on price rise.
2:33 pm: Seemandhra MPs have rushed to the well of the Rajya Sabha with banners protesting against the division of Andhra Pradesh.
2:31 pm: The Rajya Sabha has resumed and SP leader Naresh Agarwal has raised the issue of price rise in the House.
12:50 pm: The BJP says it is prepared to pass the Lokpal Bill in the din even as the SP says it wants a debate on price rise before anything else. THe Aam Aadmi Party has said it is opposed to the Lokpal Bill in a 'diluted' form. However, former IPS officer Kiran Bedi says Anna Hazare has agreed to the Bill in the current form. "I asked Anna if he agrees with the suggestions and he said yes. I have read the recommendations very carefully. They have included very correct points. They have improved the law with amendments," Bedi said.
12:10 pm: MoS PMO V Narayanasamy has tabled the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha. However, this was followed by uproar due to which the House has been adjourned till 2:30 pm. The debate on the Lokpal bill could not commence as SP and Seemandhra MPs shouted slogans in the well of the House demanding discussion of price rise and Telangana respectively.
11:27 am: The Lokpal Bill will be taken up in the Rajya Sabha at 12 noon. The Rajya Sabha Chairperson insists that there be a debate on the Lokpal Bill before it is passed. Sources say there are some suggestions from the BJP that Lokpal Bill be passed in the din as many Bills had been passed in the past, which the RS Chairperson Hamid Ansari has rejected.
11:15 am: There was uproar in the Lok Sabha on various issues including Telangana and UPSC examination. Following this, Lok Sabha has also been adjourned till noon.
11:10 am: Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj raised the law intern sexual harassment case against former Supreme Court judge Justice AK Ganguly in the Lok Sabha. She demanded that either Justice Ganguly resigns as WBHRC chief or he be removed.
11:05 am: The Rajya Sabha congratulated MP and former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar for Bharat Ratna. However, before the House could start discussing legislations, there was uproar over Telangana following which it was adjourned till noon.
This even as the Lokpal Bill is scheduled to be tabled in the Rajya sabha on Friday. On Thursday, BJP leaders of opposition Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley accused the government of stalling the Bill. Swaraj said that if supplementary bills can be passed in the din of the House, then so can the Lokpal Bill.
The Samajwadi Party has already gone on record to say that it will oppose the Bill while the NCP says it will support it.
Earlier the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill was stalled in the Rajya Sabha in 2011. This session, too, the passage of Lokpal Bill is possible only if the House functions.
There are no plans to curtail Parliament's winter session, said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath even though the first five days have seen zero work. Nath said that Lokpal Bill remains the top priority even as both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been repeatedly disrupted due to protests against the creation Telangana.
Both Houses continued to be disrupted and then adjourned on Thursday. On one hand Congress MPs from Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh have put the Congress-led UPA government in an embarrassing position by moving a no-confidence motion against it even as Anna Hazare's indefinite fast has brought the focus back on the Lokpal Bill pending before Parliament.
Anna Hazare continues his indefinite fast in Ralegan Siddhi for the Bill. His hunger strike has entered the fourth day on Friday. He also wrote to the Prime Minister on Thursday, accusing the government of stalling the Bill and betraying the country.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Yogendra Yadav said, "Call it the Anna effect or the resounding AAP success in Delhi polls, Lokpal Bill has been brought of the deep freeze."
"The bill has its genesis in Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement. It was passed by the Lok Sabha earlier, but was later sent to the Rajya Sabha select committee. Based on the recommendations of the select committee amendments are to be introduced in the legislation," said Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Kamal Nath.
The BJP has, however, proposed the Bill as cleared by the select committee to be passed by Parliament. Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said, "In the Upper House the BJP and the Congress together have the numbers to get the legislation passed, but some smaller parties like the Samajwadi Party have openly come out in opposition to the Bill."
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