Najma vs Ahluwalia,Naidu saves the day

The daily meeting of Rajya Sabha floor leaders on Friday witnessed the curious scene of two senior BJP members Najma Heptullah and S S Ahluwalia arguing over time allocation. Heptullah wanted to speak on the murder of a three-year-old boy in Australia and sought time,while Ahluwalia felt that the trade union agitation over price rise was more important and hence should be given prominence as was demanded by leaders of other parties. Since there was no Zero Hour scheduled as a calling attention notice on paid news was already listed for discussion technically both stood no chance. However,in view of the demand by majority of the leaders,including Ahluwalia,the Chairman allowed time for raising the issue of the trade union agitation,leaving Heptullah disappointed. But once the House met,BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu came to Heptullahs rescue and raised the Australian issue before Ahluwalia could speak on the trade union agitation. Naidus smart strategy even helped secure a reply from External Affairs Minister S M Krishna,who was then present.