The BJP-Shiv Sena tensions over the disinvestment issue resurfaced in the Rajya Sabha leading to walkout by the Left parties and the Rashtriya Janata Dal members during the Question Hour.Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Nirupam had raised the issue of sale of the Centaur Hotel of Mumbai a second time. He said that at least five low-grade employees of the hotel had suffered either heart attacks or brain haemorrhage—four had died —since the hotel was bought by a private company.As the Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie sat quietly on his seat, the entire Opposition was up demanding a reply from the minister. As Deputy Chairperson Najma Hepthullah insisted that minister was under no obligation to reply to a call attention notice, this further infuriated members.In protest all the members belonging to the Left parties and the RJD made a walk out. The Congress members who also made noise over minister’s attitude however did not join them. Sanjay Nirupam also enquired from the chair the fate of his privilege notice against Arun Shourie. He has accused Shourie of saying that he (Sanjay) had ‘fabricated’ the official document that he had produced during a debate on the disinvestment of the Centaur hotel in the Rajya sabha.
