Ruling, Oppn benches in LS verbal duel

he Lok Sabha on Thursday saw a verbal clash between the ruling side and the opposition, with the Congress demanding immediate debate on the lynching issue while the BJP sought apology from the Congress members suspended for throwing papers towards the Speaker.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Leader of the Congress Mallikarjun Kharge said his party had given a notice on June 5 for a discussion on the lynching issue and has been giving adjournment notices.

He claimed that Speaker Sumitra Mahajan was ready for it but not the government.

Seeking an immediate debate, he said his party would not raise the issue of the revocation of its six members' suspension if the House took up the lynching issue for discussion.

Mohammad Salim (CPI-M) wondered if the concept of adjournment notice should be removed from the rule book, leading to a brief uproar.

"If an adjournment notice is not accepted on such an issue (lynching), then what is the point of having it," he asked, claiming that over 50 people have been killed in mob violence.

Mahajan said Salim could not challenge the Speaker as she noted that she only disallowed the notices for suspending the Question Hour but never denied a discussion on the issue.

"I have always been willing to allow a debate," she said.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay (Trinamool Congress) also supported the demand for a discussion on lynchings, saying it was the most important issue. "Let's start a discussion," he said.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the government was always ready for a debate on the issue but it was the House's decision to take up the matter of agriculture crisis first.

He then launched a sharp attack on the Congress for its members' protest in the House during which they threw paper balls towards the Chair, a charge denied by Opposition members.

Congress members later trooped into the Well, raising slogans and carrying placards even as the Speaker carried on with the proceedings.

Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha too witnessed heated exchanges between treasury benches and Congress members as three BJP lawmakers, including Subramanian Swamy, raised the issue of Samjhauta Express train blast of 2005. Referring to a video of purported narco-test related to the train blast being shown on a TV channel, Shiv Pratap Shukla (BJP) said the blast took place because of involvement of Pakistan.

He said the blast on the train which plies between New Delhi and Lahore in Pakistan was carried out by Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and SIMI jointly.

However, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the then UPA government coined a new name "Hindu terrorism", the BJP

member said.