RS chairman invokes rare rule to throw out angry MP

Maitreyan demanded a clarification from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following Wednesday’s admission by Baalu that he had “put in a word” with his colleague in the Petroleum Ministry for gas supply to his sons’ companies.

With both Baalu and the Prime Minister present in the House today, AIADMK members started raising the issue as soon as the Rajya Sabha met for the day.

Chairman Dr Hamid Ansari disallowed the demand and warned the members not to disrupt the proceedings of the House. But the AIADMK members did not relent and Maitreyan kept pressing for a statement from the Prime Minister.

“The honourable member is skating very close to Rule 255. He has to be very careful about this matter,” Ansari warned. “This is disorderly behaviour. This is a behaviour unbecoming of a member”. However, with Maitreyan continuing to defy the chairman and pressing for his demand, Ansari finally read out Rule 255.

“Now, I am invoking this rule against you. Let this be on record,” he said, following which Maitreyan left the House. His party members followed him.

The only other time this rule has been invoked against a member was on July 25, 1989 when the then deputy chairman was forced to order a member to leave the House after he refused to tender an apology to the House for physically preventing a colleague from asking a supplementary question two days earlier.

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned after NDA and UNPA members disrupted the proceedings over the action taken against Maitreyan. The MPs, led by BJP’s Sushma Swaraj, who’s the deputy leader of the Opposition and SP’s Amar Singh, raised slogans for protecting the rights of an MP inside the House for more than an hour, before the House was adjourned.