NEW DELHI
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned twice in the morning session on Tuesday as opposition parties, including the Congress and TMC, voiced their protest against the increase in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas LPG.
With slogan shouting opposition MPs trooping into the well of the House, proceedings were first adjourned till 12 noon and then till post-lunch.
Petrol and diesel prices were on Tuesday hiked by 80 paise a litre each while domestic cooking gas LPG rates were increased by Rs 50 per cylinder as state oil firms ended an over four and half month election-related hiatus in rate revision, fanning inflation fears.
While Congress and TMC MPs carrying placards trooped into the well, other opposition MPs, including from the Left parties, stood in the aisles.
When the House met after the first adjournment, Deputy Chairman Harivansh called for the listed Question Hour to be taken and asked opposition parties to not disrupt the proceedings.
Unrelenting, the opposition members shouted slogans, drowning out Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertiliser Bhagwanth Khuba who was replying to the first listed question.
Harivansh asked TMC leader Derek O’Brien to call his party MPs back to their seats and allow Question Hour to proceed, saying precious national resources have been spent.
With opposition members continuing their vociferous protests, he adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm.
Earlier in the morning when the House met for zero hour proceedings, the Upper House was adjourned for a little less than an hour.
While TMC members stormed into the well of the House carrying placards, Congress, Left, Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena MPs were up on their feet, some shouting slogans.
This happened after Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said he has not accepted notices given by Shaktisinh Gohil (Congress), Dola Sen (TMC), V Sivadasan, Elamaram Kareem and John Brittas (CPM) under rule 267, requiring setting aside of the listed agenda to take up a discussion.
Opposition parties protested in Lok Sabha on Tuesday against the increase in prices of fuel and cooking gas and staged a walkout demanding a rollback.
Raising the issue after Question Hour, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the opposition parties had been claiming that the prices of diesel and petrol would increase after the election process.
Members of the Congress, TMC, NCP, DMK and Left parties raised slogans from their seats against the fuel price hike and demanded a rollback.
The opposition parties had tried to raise the issue of as soon as Lok Sabha met for Question Hour, but were disallowed by Speaker Om Birla.
Birla had told the opposition parties to raise the issue after Question Hour.
The NCP and Congress hit out at the central government on Tuesday over the latest fuel price hike, and questioned the need for increasing the rates at a time when crude oil was imported at “highly discounted rates” from Russia.
The petrol and diesel prices were on Tuesday hiked by 80 paise a litre, while the domestic cooking gas prices were increased by Rs 50 per cylinder, ending an over four-and-half month election-related hiatus in rate revision, sources said.
“What was the need to increase the price of cooking gas when you (the Centre) have already imported lakhs of barrels of crude oil at highly discounted rates from Russia,” NCP’s Maharashtra unit chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase asked.
The crude oil price has increased to USD 140 per barrel in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war, he noted.
On one hand, the petroleum ministry is trying to justify the price hike due to increased international prices of crude and on the other, they have made a “swift deal at highly discounted rates”, said the NCP leader, whose party shares power with the Shiv Sena and Congress in Maharashtra.
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole accused the Centre of inflicting atrocities on people as soon as the elections got over.
He was referring to the Assembly polls held recently in five states – Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa.
“Had said that the BJP will recover (dues) from the people along with interest once it wins elections. Petrol, diesel, gas recovery on,” Patole tweeted in Hindi.
Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 96.21 per litre as against Rs 95.41 previously, while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 86.67 per litre to Rs 87.47.
