New Delhi: The 15th Lok Sabha will go down in the history as the most disrupted in Independent India so far including the pepper spray incident which marked a new low in parliamentary conduct.
Disruptions were the order of the day, so much so that the Lok Sabha witnessed almost a full session being washed out rpt out on the issue of JPC in the 2G spectrum scam. This was unprecedented.
There was also uproar galore on the demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the coal block allocation scam. Storm over Telangana led to several unprecedented developments in the last session of the House which had 13 sittings. Even though Speaker Meira Kumar wanted a "grand finale" to the Lok Sabha it was for everyone to infer if it was so.
As many as 16 members from Seemandhra region were suspended ahead of the passage of Telangana bill.
The bill to divide Andhra Pradesh tested the patience of the House, unlike any other issue in recent times. Supporters and opponents of separate Telangana were at loggerheads on the bill at the drop of a hat.
The historic bill creating the 29th state of India was passed in the last week of the last session of the Lok Sabha but after much controversies, confusion and commotion.
Almost the entire speech of Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, while presenting the interim railway budget, was tabled in the Lok Sabha due to turmoil while the interim budget 2014-15 containing the Vote-on-account for four months was passed without a discussion.
The House witnessed four ministers trooping into the Well of the House and disrupting presentation of the interim railway budget.
The four ministers including one of Cabinet rank--K S Rao, D Purandeshwari, K Suryaprakash Reddy and Chiranjeevi-- were protesting against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Some of them held placards. Two other ministers silently supported the four by standing on their seats.
Six members of the Lok Sabha belonging to the ruling party have been expelled but the protests have refused to die down.
While protests had become routine a new tactic was adopted in the last session--holding of big placards in front of the Chair, be it the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha.
The table in the Well, which is an extension of the Chair, where the Secretary General and other officials seat, also came under increasing attack with papers being virtually snatched from them. It occured in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
It prompted ruling party members throwing a security cordon around the top leaders inside the two Houses. The 15th Lok Sabha also saw immediate disqualification of Lalu Prasad (RJD) and Jagdish Sharma (JD-U) after their conviction in the fodder scam.
Theirs was the first disqualification from the Lok Sabha after the Supreme Court struck down a provision that protects a convicted lawmaker from disqualification on the ground of pendency of appeal in higher courts.
While Prasad stands disqualified for a total of 11 years - five years of jail term and six years subsequent to his release - Sharma stands disqualified for ten years - four years in jail and six more years after that as per electoral laws.
