Ansari norms in place, RS holds zero hour

This system was worked out at a party leaders’ meeting with Ansari on Tuesday and all members who spoke during the zero hour on Wednesday followed it.

Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan informed members about the fresh norms before he took up the issues. The trouble arose when Khan asked Amar Singh of the Samajwadi Party to speak. BJP member M Venkaiah Naidu and his party colleagues got up to highlight violent incidents in Kerala. This provoked D Raja of the CPI to get up too. When Khan told Naidu that his notice had not been accepted, BJP members stormed the well leading to adjournment of the House for 45 minutes.

Later, when the House reassembled, Khan said the notice of BJP whip S S Ahluwalia had been admitted by the Chair in an amended form. He took up zero hour notices thereafter.

Naidu, speaking on behalf of Ahluwalia, said 10 persons had been killed in Kerala violence during the past one month and demanded that the Centre depute paramilitary forces to the state as directed by the High Court.

Amar Singh demanded a ban on CDs allegedly containing objectionable references towards characters in the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata and the arrest of culprits in the matter.

BJP’s Kalraj Mishra demanded that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry ban the telecast of the contents of the CDs by private television channels as it might lead to caste conflicts.

D Raja referred to the ongoing agitation by airport employees against closure of airports in Hyderabad and Bangalore and expressed concern over invoking the Essential Services Maintenance Act against the striking workers.