RS chairman Venkaiah Naidu adjourns House for the day amid din by Congress MPs over price rise

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 18

The Rajya Sabha proceeding was adjourned for the entire day on the first day of the Monsoon session on Monday amid din created by Congress members over issues like price rise and government’s decisions to hike GST on few commodities while bringing some more under the ambit of it.

However, earlier, several newly elected members of Rajya Sabha were administered oath and obituary references were made by chairman M Venkaiah Naidu.

As Naidu was making some observations, several Congress members trooped into the well of the House and started raising slogans.

“As some people have come determined not to allow the House to function and also enable members to go and vote in the Presidential election, I am adjourning the House for the day,” the Chairman said as he adjourned the proceedings.

The House paid homage to former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, ex UAE president Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and former Kenayan president Mwai Kibaki.

Obituaries were also paid to former members Kishore Kumar Mohanty, Robert Kharshiing, K K Veerappan and santoor player Pandit Shivkumar Sharma.

Meanwhile, the office of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Karge issued a statement claiming that today under Modi’s rule, inflation has broken all records making the life of poor people a nightmare.

“For last 3 months, retail inflation has remained above 7 per cent. Food inflation rate has remained close to 8 per cent. The Wholesale Price-based Index (WPI) touched a record high of 15.88 per cent in May,” it said, adding that on top of it, “from today, the Modi government has hiked GST rates on daily-use items like rice, wheat, curd, grains, honey, jiggery, wheat flour, puffed rice, and many other items from 0 to 5 per cent.”

“Today, we tried to raise this issue on the floor of the House, and notice was given by the Leader of Opposition under Rule 267, to suspend the business for the day and have a discussion on this burning issue. Neither were we allowed to raise the issue nor were we allowed to even mention the subject. This shows how little the Modi government cares for the poor of the country,” the statement read.

In a tweet, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “Today the Opposition led by the Congress got the Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day on the urgent issue of continuing, intolerable increase in prices of essential commodities, on which a discussion was denied.”

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