Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day amid Oppn. ruckus over Agnipath, inflation

New Delhi, July 18 (IANS): Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day after the opposition members continued to protest in the Well of House demanding discussion on Agnipath, the new recruitment schemes for Armed forces, inflation and other issues.

On the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament on Monday, the Rajya Sabha witnessed the members walking to the Well of the House over ‘Agnipath’, inflation and other issues.

After repeated failed requests to the protesting members to let the House function, Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the proceedings for the day.

At the start of the day, the newly elected and one nominated member took oath. Some of the prominent names who took the oath are former Union ministers P. Chidambaram and Praful Patel, cricketer Harbhajan Singh, RJD’s Misha Bharti, Congress Rajeev Shukla, Ranjeet Ranjan, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Pramod Kumar, BJD’s Dr Sasmit Patra and independent Kapil Sibal.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Naidu made obituary references to former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, legendary Santoor player Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, former Members Kishore Kumar Mohanty, Robert Kharshiing and K.K. Veerappan, President of the UAE and the Ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and third President of Kenya Mwai Kibaki.

Earlier, the Congress gave adjournment notices seeking discussion on the Agnipath scheme. Congress member Deepender Hooda moved a notice demanding a discussion on the scheme after setting aside all other business of the House. Shaktisinh Gohil, Congress Member, also moved an adjournment notice demanding immediate withdrawal of the scheme.