RS takes up quota Bill, SP walks out, says ‘black day’

When the House re-assembled after a brief adjournment, a similar situation prevailed, prompting Kurien to issue repeated warnings to the member to leave or face eviction by marshals. As Singh refused to relent, Kurien asked Ram Gopal Yadav to persuade the member to leave.

Yadav then argued that if the chair wanted to expel all the SP members, it should take the "sense of the House" on it. "If there is sense of House, then we have no objection. We will leave the House," he said.

However, parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath said the member who had been named should first withdraw before any other thing could be considered.

SP member Naresh Agrawal suggested that since his party MPs were defying Rule 255, under which the chair can direct any member to withdraw from the House for the rest of the day, Kurien should invoke Rule 256 under which members can be suspended. The deputy chairman expressed surprise at this argument, terming it as a "strange" request for "greater punishment", and insisted that the named member should leave first.

When the House re-assembled after a 15-minute break, the other SP members continued slogan-shouting. "If this continues, all members should be asked to leave," said Nath.

Kurien pleaded with the protesting members to resume their seats. "Do you want me to ask you to leave? Don't make me do this. You are my friends. I will invoke Rule 255 again. I am going to do this," he said, and then named another member, Choudhry Munabbar Saleem, and asked him to withdraw.

When he threatened to call the marshals to oust the member, BJP and Left MPs opposed the move. Finally, all SP members staged a walkout.

Meanwhile, initiating the discussion in the House, Arun Jaitley, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, while supporting the amendment, said his party wanted changes to the Bill so as to ensure that it does not create reverse discrimination. He also raised the issue of efficiency to be linked to the promotions.

... contd.

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