Houses stall as AIADMK seeks action on P Chidambaram’s son Karti

AIADMK members on Tuesday stalled proceedings in both Houses of Parliament demanding action against former UPA minister P. Chidambaram’s son Karti on the Aircel-Maxis issue. Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha faced several adjournments through Tuesday on this issue, with proceeedings virtually washed out in the uproar.

Both Houses witnessed continuous disruptions due to the slogan shouting by AIADMK members, who were in the Well, forcing repeated adjournments. The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day at around 2.45 pm, while the day’s proceedings in the Upper House ended around 4 pm. The AIADMK members were displaying copies of an English newspaper which claimed Karti has invested in real estate across the world, going by Enforcement Directorate and income-tax investigations during searches at his premises.

In the Upper House, deputy chairman P.J. Kurien got angry and even threatened to suspend agitating members, but to no avail. In the Rajya Sabha, a call attention motion on inflammatory speeches made by a Union minister and elected representatives violating the Constitution and the oath of office couldn’t be taken up due to the noisy protests by the AIADMK.

The trouble started in the House as soon as it met for the day, with AIADMK members waiving copies of a newspaper raising the issue and demanding action against Karti Chidambaram.

Chairman Hamid Ansari said it was “unbecoming” of the members and accused them of promoting the newspaper, which was “not proper”. Deputy chairman P.P. Kurien said the disruptions were a “murder of democracy”, As AIADMK members led by V. Maitreyan continued raising slogans demanding the arrest of P. Chidambaram and his son Karti over the Aircel-Maxis issue, a visibly angry Mr Kurien said: “How can I take action I can take action against you.”

He warned he could taken action against the AIADMK members under Rule 255 and bar the disrupting members from the proceedings of the House for the day.

On the call attention motion, Mr Kurien said it was not taken up as the government did not distribute the statement. He said minister of state for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was on the wrong foot. “I called (Leader of the Opposition) Ghulam Nabi Azad and asked to distribute, but the papers were not distributed. So the call attention motion was not taken up.”

In the brief periods the House met amid adjournments, the Congress accused AIADMK members of disrupting the proceedings at the BJP’s behest. Similar scenes were seen in the Lok Sabha as well.

As soon as the Lok Sabha met for the day, AIADMK members rushed to the Well demanding action over the Aircel-Maxis deal. They raised slogans, but Speaker Sumitra Mahajan continued with Question Hour for some time despite the uproar, and then adjourned the House for nearly 10 minutes. Soon after, AIADMK members were seen distributing copies of the newspaper to BJP MPs.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi was seen talking to deputy speaker M. Thambi Durai, who belongs to the AIADMK. At one point, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge stood to raise some issue, apparently related to the privilege notice against HRD minister Smriti Irani over the Rohith Vemula suicide issue, but he was shouted down by AIADMK members.

Mrs Gandhi was seen telling AIADMK members not to raise slogans near Mr Kharge. Some Left MPs also stood at their places trying to seek the Speaker’s intervention.

Parliamentary affairs minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said if a proper notice was given the issue could be discussed, and that the government was open to a debate. Raising the Aircel-Maxis issue, AIADMK leader P. Venugopal asked the Prime Minister to come to the House and respond on the issue, that involves a former finance minister and a former DMK minister.

Assurances by MoS parliamentary affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy that the matter was in the Supreme Court and that the government would do “whatever is within the law” failed to satisfy the agitated members.

In the Rajya Sabha, the Chairman told the protesting AIADMK members: “The Chair gets the impression that some members are in the business of promoting a specific newspaper. This is very improper. You will not bring newspapers.” Question Hour also saw disruptions and the House was repeatedly adjourned. On the call attention motion, Mr Azad said: “There has to be order in the House to discuss this.” Mr Azad, who was to move the motion, also said the disruption was “organised by the ruling party” to ensure that the call attention motion on a “serious” issue was not taken up.

Mr Kurien, who was in the Chair, criticised the noisy protests, saying the AIADMK MPs’ behaviour was “very bad”. He said: “You can approach the government for appropriate action. Why are you disrupting the House This is irresponsible behaviour. This is the murder of democracy.”