Price rise forces Parliament to adjourn - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The issue of price rise rocked the third day of Parliament's Monsoon Session on Thursday. Both the houses were adjourned till Friday. According to reports, the opposition members, demanding a thorough discussion over the price rise issue, said their protests would continue if their demands were not met. In the Lok Sabha, opposition MPs led by Sushma Swaraj demanded a discussion on the price rise issue under a rule that entails voting. Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar urged the opposition to let the Question Hour proceed, but Swaraj retorted that the only issue that would be discussed in the House was the price rise. Failing to restore order, Meira Kumar first adjourned the proceedings till 12 noon. However, with the pandemonium continuing when they reassembled, the house was adjourned for the day. In the Rajya Sabha, where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was present during the din, was earlier adjourned till 12 noon and then for the day. Meanwhile, MPs from SP, Left and TDP parties demonstrated outside the Parliament house. The Left leaders criticised Speaker Meira Kumar for not allowing the adjournment motion and reiterated that their protests will continue despite the speaker disallowing the motion. Meanwhile, senior BJP leaders including, LK Advani, Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj, will lead a protest march to Rashtrapati Bhawan and hand over a memorandum to President Pratibha Patil on the issue. They will also hand over 10 crore signatures collected from common people over the last few months against rising prices. Besides handing over a memorandum against the price rise, party workers would also hold 'garib panchayats' at the grassroots level to involve the common man in issues like rising food prices. Party workers will also stage a 'dharna' outside all CBI offices to protest the 'misuse' of the premier investigation agency. On Wednesday, Meira Kumar rejected the opposition's demand for a vote on the price rise issue. Kumar said the price rise is a matter of concern and may be discussed in any form other than the adjournment motion.